Revenge of the Titans 2: The Sky Sword
by Tenkai Nankobo 101
Summary: Return with Percy Jackson and his friends and meet Gabriel Johnson as they embark on a mission to the ruins of Mount Orthys for one thing: the sky god Ouranos' weapon, the Sky Sword. Will Gabe complete the mission or will he forsake it for his own desire?
1. Title and Table of Contents

Revenge of the Titans

The Sky Sword

By

Christopher Cleveland

Table of Contents

Gabriel: Returning to the remains of Mount Orthys

Nico: The blessing of the god of darkness himself

Thalia: Artemis leaves a warning for her loyal Hunters

Annabeth: Casting aside an old grudge to survive

Percy: Helping to rekindle a old flame

Nico: Bringing the souls of the dead to life for one last fight and the "aftershocks"

Annabeth: Preparing the campers for the inevitable

Percy: Leading the assault on Mount Orthys' already ruined palace

Thalia: The domain of Kronos and the enemy waiting in its remnants

Gabriel: The confrontation with Ouranos and Prometheus along with aftermath

Annabeth: The Sky Sword and what happened next


	2. Gabriel: Returning to Mount Orthys

**Gabriel: Returning to the remains of Mount Orthys**

Hi my name is Gabriel and I'm a demigod son of Kronos with a rather checkered reputation. I used to serve five Olympian gods because they did not have a chance to be represented by a demigod. Hera was one of those gods and boy did she treat me like a worthless crock of crap. Anyway, that's the polite, soft version of what went on while I was in a five-year period where I served the gods, Eos, Selene, Helios, Hera, and Hestia.

Enough about my service to the gods, I'm here to talk about a journey I am on to a very special place called Mount Orthys. Almost five weeks ago, I was on a diplomatic mission for Hera and had been captured by soldiers of my father Kronos and brought to his kingdom called Orthys. For two weeks, I was held in captivity until my father's death on Mount Olympus at which point I had to escape before Mount Orthys came under attack. As I had predicted, Orthys was attacked by an army of demigods wearing armor I had never seen before and wielding swords I didn't recognize until after I had escaped.

Unfortunately, I had to kill a couple of these demigods when they chose to attack me on my way out. I stole one of their spears and used it as a means of escaping and ran as far away as I could once I had descended to the base of Mount Orthys. Once I was far from the base of the mountain, I just kept running until I reached Las Vegas than rendezvoused with Hera for my next mission. Now, I was returning to the very place where once my father ruled on high as King of the Titans and former ruler of the universe.

"You know, coming back here brings up some awesome memories of my dad," I joked to Nico. "Did you ever really meet your dad before he was killed?" Nico asked. "Sort of but he was possessing a mortal when we met for the first time in my life," I admitted and hey, it's a "sort of" incident considering he had not fully revived. "So you met him and Luke Castellan, am I right?" Nico asked.

I nodded and added that that was before I was thrown into the dungeons in the bowels of Kronos' palace. "How did you escape?" Nico asked. "Trust me, you don't want to know the story behind that," I answered. "Probably not," Nico agreed.

We both had a good laugh from that and I just knew that we were going to be friends despite the fact that he had taken a WWII battleship cannon and shot at me with it when we met. "Hey Nico, when do you think we're going to be able to revive the dead and get this assault over with?" I asked. "Well, we do have to wait and see if Erebus will show and grant us his blessing. It's our best chance before the dead are raised if we are to take Ouranos and Prometheus by surprise," Nico answered.

Our basic battle plan that we had decided on was that (as you probably got) to wait until darkness, bring up our undead army, receive the blessing of the god of darkness himself, then attack. "But here's my question Gabe: how do we know if he'll accept my request to bless us and not yours?" Nico asked. That was a very good question and that had me left with food for thought for just a moment. Then I answered in the best way I could with the knowledge I had.

"Before your father came to rule, Tartarus and Erebus formed the Underworld and ruled it together. When your father came, he dethroned Tartarus and even dispelled his essence so that the place of the same name is all that remains. As for Erebus, he escaped any real threat Hades could be by creating a field of eternal darkness that would grow ever stronger until it dominated almost all of the Underworld," I explained. "Does that mean Erebus bears a grudge against my father as my father once bore a grudge against Zeus?" Nico asked.

"Erebus is who he obtained your fatal flaw from, otherwise he would have had no flaw and would probably have been the only perfect god," I answered. "That explains why you want me to ask for the blessing and not anyone else," Nico said. "Erebus has no problem with Zeus or Poseidon since neither have done anything, it's only Hades he has anything against. When we last talked about it, he said to me that he hoped it stayed that way if nothing was going to improve between him and Hades," I told him.

Nico nodded his head to assure me that he understood what I had said. But his understanding of what he was saying did not matter to me. All that mattered to me was that Erebus was allowed the chance to put an end to his enmity with Hades before we attacked. It was the least I could do to make sure we had every single asset we could get on our side.

While we waited for Erebus to be able to come to us, I reflected on an old flame I once held in my heart. Of course, this was before my wife Nadine and definitely before my journey in Turkey. During my time under the service of Eos, beautiful goddess of the dawn, she had treated me probably better than the rest with Selene and Hestia closely behind. Every day, after she had done her duty of announcing her brothers return to the sky, she would have me do some sort of chore around her beautiful palace whether it was to go and deliver some items or a message to one of her fellow Olympians, things like that.

The biggest favor that she had asked me had been to find her father Hyperion and ask him where he stood with the Olympians. You see, this was just at the beginning of Kronos' resurgence and Eos seemed to be the only who showed concern for her father. "Does Hyperion even care about the way that you feel about him?" I asked her. "I am well aware of the possibilities of how he may be feeling about my concern, which is why I must know," she answered.

"Listen Eos, I don't guarantee good news but I promise that I will do what is necessary to come back with news good or bad about him," I told her. Then she did something that would galvanize me for as long as I lived. She kissed me on the forehead and though she knew what I was going to say, she thanked me for saying it anyway. "Just return to me with a message from my father, you will be handsomely rewarded either way," she said with a smile.

I knew that she had a child's love their parent but I could never understand it. I mean, my father was never there and my mother had died when I was young so how could I understand something I never had? When Helios returned from driving the sun around the world (you see, he and Apollo agreed to shifts and I worked when Helios was on his shift), I asked for directions to Hyperion's domain since he saw everything. "Follow the sun to the moon to the east for four days then look for a glowing, red Omega symbol," he told me.

I knew better than to question what Helios meant by that and followed his instructions precisely. The glowing Omega was small, making it difficult to catch, but when I caught it I walked to it to an iron door guarded by a fierce giant. "Who are you and who sent you?" it asked with a spear pointing at my head. "I am Gabriel Johnson and I come bearing a message from Eos, the goddess of the dawn, for Hyperion and only Hyperion," I answered calmly.

He banged on the door three times with one of his big fists and waited a moment. Then a slide opened across the door and two glowing orbs that looked like miniature suns peered out the door. "Master, a mortal has come bearing a message from Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Does that sound familiar to you at all?" the giant asked.

"Eos is my eldest daughter by Thea, did you ask for his name?" the source of those eyes replied. "His name is Gabriel Johnson and it seems he is unarmed," the giant said. "Let him in, I want to see him in my throne room at once," the voice ordered. Then the slide closed, those eyes went out of sight, and the door creaked open just enough for me to walk through without trouble.

After that, I was immediately entranced by the wonders of Hyperion's palace. Outside, it had looked like an old military base but inside it looked like one of those places where they had lights and pictures to simulate day and night only the real skies were in this instead of just pictures. I guess I could say it sort of reminded me of one of those casinos in Las Vegas where they do those crazy shows for audiences that are paying any attention. "Are you going to stand around in awe of my domain that you're going to forget the message that my daughter entrusted you with?" that voice asked.

I snapped back into reality and looked directly at the creator of all this himself. Hyperion was a tall, imposing man with a long cloak that had blinking stars on it. His eyes were those orbs I had seen outside that looked like miniature sons and his height made me practically bend all the way back just to look at his face until he sat on his throne. "Master Hyperion, your daughter has sent me here to inform you that she is worried about you. She wishes to know if you will remain on the side of Olympus or if you will be neutral in the return of the Titans," I explained.

He chuckled and I politely asked what might be so funny to him. "I sided with the Titans in the first war between Zeus and Kronos. Truly, I am astounded that my daughter expects me to forget the call to arms and either help Zeus or remain neutral. But then, she is quite a winning creature when you consider that she was the one who persuaded Zeus to spare me from severe punishment when I was captured by him," he told me.

"So this is how you repay your daughter for doing that? She's your freaking daughter! I don't have a parent in my life and even I know that you're doing is crap," I replied. "Oh dear, I am so scared because I'm insulting my own daughter. You know, you're very funny for a demigod son of Kronos," Hyperion said.

"What's so funny about a daughter's plea to her father?" I asked. "Oh nothing, just that I have to ask that you leave now. My answer has been given but if you need a simpler message to take back then take this: 'Eos, if you will stand with Zeus than expect me on the opposite side'. She should get the picture from that one about where I stand with Zeus and the returning Titans," he answered.

While I stood poised to destroy him first chance he gave me, he called for his giant soldier that had been at the door. Though they spoke at a volume so low that I couldn't hear them, I could read lip movement very well. What he told the guard to do was that if I gave him an excuse to do so, he was to kill me at once. Luckily for all of us, I gave the guard no excuse to try to kill me and went out quietly to report what I had learned to Eos.

After another four days, this time to the West, I returned to Eos' palace where she stayed and gardened during the day and frolicked in pleasure with whoever was there with her during the night. But during the times known to us as dawn, her role as a goddess was active. Sadly though, none of her experience as a goddess of Olympus was going to prepare her for what I had to tell her. Luckily, I was bought a little time when I had to ask if she was in the garden or in her throne room before I had to tell her.

When I found her, it almost made my heart shatter to have to tell her then see her face as she reacted to it. "Eos, I have returned with the reply from your father Hyperion. He was not the most hospitable god I had ever met but his abilities in hospitality served my purposes," I told her. "Speak Gabriel, I am prepared to know what my father has decided even if it's not good," she replied.

I related to her what Hyperion had told me to say as well as what happened throughout my stay there. With some courage but mostly grief, I watched as she began to release golden tears of betrayal and regret. "Then may Olympus curse him to whatever punishment it deems worthy of him!" Eos screamed as she began crying. I ran to her and held her in my arms, letting her cry on my chest though I tried to cheer her up.

"This is how he repays me for defending him against Zeus? Is this how he chooses to thank his children for leaving him something to rule over?" Eos asked. "I only met Hyperion once but I could easily figure that at best, he was a very selfish god," I agreed. "Perhaps you're right about that Gabriel but do me the kind honor of being my bedmate for the night?" Eos asked.

I had to admit that I found myself blushing when she said that and she laughed although she was still crying. "If it pleases my lady then it shall be done," I told her. She giggled and I spent a night with her before she did her duty as goddess of the dawn and the whole day in bed after she returned. In those few hours that we spent together, I still feel to this day as though we loved a lifetime's worth and that she still has some feelings for me.

As I brought my mind back to the present moment, I saw that Helios was almost done with his journey across the sky to conclude another day. I made sure that Nico was ready to greet Erebus when he arrived since this had to be done right or else we would be done for. Still, I had to wonder how it could have come to this when peace could have been achieved after the death of my dad Kronos. But then, Prometheus did need an excuse to redeem himself from the fact that he had killed my family and turned me against the Titans.

If only I had killed him in one of our three previous duels so that it wouldn't lead to this. That's right, we had three duels before I met the demigods of Camp Half-Blood or Thalia and her Hunters. The first time, I was so miserably defeated that if Helios had not made the sun glow to burn Prometheus then I would have died. After that, I had two draws where I saw him retreat after declaring that it was impossible to kill me.

But this time, I would see to it that I at least scored a victory if I had to face him again because now, I was not interested in his head for the sake of revenge. I was interested for the sake of justice to my family and restoring honor to my mother's clan. Before I let my feelings for even thinking about Prometheus cloud my better judgment, I reminded myself that it might not be the best thing to try and take Prometheus' head now. Besides, what if killing Ouranos was what was necessary rather than letting him escape for Prometheus?


	3. Nico: Blessing of the god of darkness

**Nico: The blessing of the god of darkness himself**

Right after the sun set, Erebus arrived as was planned for us. I was amazed that we had gone undetected by Ouranos or Prometheus this long but at the moment, I was excited to settle one more feud and establish one more alliance between the gods. "Ah, Nico di Angelo come to speak on his father's behalf or that of Gabriel's for me tonight?" Erebus asked. "I have come to apologize on my father's behalf for the insult done to you," I answered.

"Cute, you may continue if you wish to do what your father never did," Erebus commented. "On behalf of my father Hades and on behalf of all the creatures of the Underworld, I apologize for the offense committed against you and your brother Tartarus when the first Great War ended and Hades came to rule," I said. "Shortly after your father took rule, I put a curse on the area that I still had that made it so dark that not even your father dared venture without my permission. The only one to have been allowed into my domain until now has been our friend Gabriel and anyone who travels with him but now, that is no longer so with the feud over," Erebus explained.

"My lord, if it is not impolite to do so, I would like to ask what this has to do with your feud with Hades. Which, as your graciousness has seen fit, has been absolved," I asked. "Shortly after I established my domain in the Underworld, I accidentally activated a part of my magic that made the darkness spread until it engulfed almost all of the Underworld save Elysium and Tartarus. That is precisely why the Underworld is the dark and gloomy domain that you know it to be to this day," Erebus answered.

"And does our friend Nico have at least one more thing to do for our god of darkness here?" Gabriel said to me. Then I remembered that I was supposed to swear an oath that it would never happen again and receive the blessing of Erebus. "Lord Erebus, I swear on the River Styx to do everything in my power to prevent another feud between you and Hades. Having sworn this oath, may I ask for your blessing before we wage war against the forces of evil tonight?" I asked.

"First, before I can give you my blessing I need you to lift up your arms and show me the palms of your hands," Erebus answered. I obeyed, knowing better than to question the word of a god especially one like Erebus. Both of his eyes then glowed a pale green light that sent out currents of lightning right into the palms of my hands. The lightning was so painful when it touched my hands that I had to bite me lip to keep from screaming.

It lasted for a few minutes but all the same, it hurt really bad. When the pain passed, I didn't even notice it for a few moments since it was so tremendous. But when I finally realized that it had passed, I noticed that I had an Alpha on my left hand and an Omega on the other. "Nico di Angelo, you have made an oath to darkness itself.

"Live and remember your oath to the mighty Erebus. Now, you have my blessing to fight the forces of evil on the following night. The full might of Darkness' army is yours to command for you are my champion on Earth, whose power is seconded only by my own," Erebus declared. I turned to Gabriel and showed him the marks on my hands that would act as a reminder of what I had done.

He smiled and nodded, thanking Erebus for being of assistance to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood once again. "I would rather put up with Hades and his occasional complaints of me stealing souls from him than see the Titans return and destroy him for the death of Hades means my death as well," Erebus told us. Then he disappeared in a single display of power rivaled only by the Big Three in its magnitude. My guess was that he was a very happy god of darkness tonight considering he helped end a millennia-old feud between himself and Hades.

"How do you feel after being declared the champion of darkness itself?" Gabriel asked. For a moment, I had to think about that since it was a new sensation to me but then I sort of had the words. "I feel… stronger, faster, and more confident with a sword than I had previously felt," I answered. "Then let's have a practice spar so you can confirm how you feel right now," he said.

Quicker than I had ever done before, I had my sword out and on the attack but he intercepted with one of his swords. He pushed my sword aside with the other and I was soon attacking with the powers of darkness on my side. Gabriel was not surprised by any of my moves because he could move quickly if he wished and he did. Soon, I was purely on defensive but even my defense had improved since the last time I had had to use my sword to survive.

When we crossed blades, I asked him how he was able to move so fast. "Let me put it this way, I have all the powers of a god but I don't have the immortality. That's the only thing that makes me different between the gods, someone with the Curse of Achilles like Percy, and normal mortals," he answered. That made sense considering that he was indeed a son of Kronos and it led me to wonder if Chiron had the same abilities as Gabriel did.

As if reading my mind, Gabriel told me that Chiron was like Gabriel in his own way but was inferior thanks to his status as a centaur. "You need to be purely human to access the abilities that the gods and I have otherwise, you're still powerful but you're not the most powerful warrior to walk the planet," Gabriel explained. He added that Chiron would only hope that his experience with training heroes would sharpen his skills enough to even hold his own against Gabriel like I was. "Chiron is one of the best warriors I have ever seen and trust me, Chiron in action is a sight to behold," he said.

We continued to spar a little more until Gabriel managed to disarm me in a few minutes. Both of us were sweating and panting for breath although I was doing it harder than he was. "I haven't had a good round like that since the time I had to face down one of Hyperion's giant guards. And that was when I attempted to assassinate Hyperion on Hestia's behalf, more than a year ago," he said.

"What was Hyperion like when you first met him?" I asked, eager to know one of the Titans a bit better. "Let's put it this way (although vulgar, this is the only polite way I can describe him) he was probably the most selfish asshole with no balls that I had ever met," Gabriel answered. That impressed me since I had never heard Gabriel curse before and I don't think anybody did besides Drew Beauregard who probably heard him do that in bed (trust me, you don't want to know how I found that out). "Hey Gabriel before you met the gods, did you ever believe in any supernatural deities?" I asked, quite out of the blue but it was a random thought.

"No but my youngest uncle tried to force Christianity down my throat when I was younger. But in order to keep my ability to use logic and avoid having empty faith, I used to sneak in some George Carlin routines," Gabriel answered. "Repeat one routine for me please?" I inquired, interested in what George Carlin would tell him through his routines. "One of my favorites is his revision of the Ten Commandments so I think I will tell you that one," Gabriel said.

I made myself comfortable when I found a rock near me and watched as Gabriel repeated a routine for me. "From stand-up legend George Carlin: I'm not making this shit up, why did they pick ten? Why ten, why not nine or eleven? I'll tell you why: because ten sounds official, ten sounds important.

"They knew if it was eleven, people wouldn't take it seriously. What are you kidding me, the Eleven Commandments? Get the fuck out of here but ten sounds important, it's the basis for the decimal. It's a decade, it's a cycle, it's a psychologically satisfying number so the decision to have Ten Commandments was really a marketing decision.

"And it's clearly a bullshit list, it's an artificially inflated document designed to scare and control primitive people. I'm gonna show you how you can reduce the number of Commandments and come up with a list that's a little more logical. I'll be using the Roman Catholic version since that was the one I was taught as a little boy and I'm gonna start with the first three: 'I am the Lord, thy god. Thou shalt have no other gods before me', 'Thou shalt not take thy lord's name in vain', and 'Thou shall keep holy the Sabbath day'. Right off the bat, the first three, pure bullshit!

"Sabbath day, lord's name, spooky language; spooky language! Designed to scare and control primitive people and in no way does superstitious nonsense like this apply to the lives of rational human beings in the twenty-first century. You throw it those three and suddenly, you're down to seven and the next one: 'Honor thy mother and father'.

"Obedience, respect for authority and it's just another name for controlling people. Truth is respect should not be automatic, it should be earned and it should be based on the parents' performance. Some parents deserve respect, most of them don't, period. You throw that out and suddenly, you're down to six.

"Now in the interest of logic, something religion is very uncomfortable with, we're gonna jump up and down the list and I have two commandments that belong together: 'Thou shalt not steal' and 'Thou shalt not bear false witness'. Stealing and lying, well actually these two both prohibit the same thing: dishonesty, stealing and lying, so you don't need two of them. Instead, you combine them and change the whole thing to 'Thou shalt not be dishonest' and suddenly, you're down to five. And while we're combining commandments, I have two more that belong together: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' and 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife'.

"Once again, these two both prohibit the same behavior in this case, martial infidelity. The only difference is that coveting takes place in the mind and I don't think you should outlaw fantasizing about another man's wife otherwise, what's a guy gonna think about when he's waxing his carrot?" At that point, I had enough laughs for one night and asked him if we could change the subject to something else for at least a little bit. "What could there be that you would wanna talk about besides that?" he asked.

"Let me put it this way: girls," I answered. He smiled and said that he would like that since it definitely was something worth talking about. "Okay, so I'm seventy-years old naturally but I have the same experience in dating as Percy: I've only had one relationship. Believe me, it didn't last long since she soon moved out of Las Vegas in time to see her brother off to the draft and I was taken to the Lotus Casino by one of the Furies," I told him.

"I'm surprised you haven't had experiences with relationships and girls. Anyway, I have had four in my life excluding all the times where a prostitute would come in and give me freebies when I was in a fit of madness and my night with Drew Beauregard," Gabriel explained. "Tell me about those relationships, I already know your relationship with Nadine so you don't need to explain that one," I asked him. "The first two were high school relationships, the girls were named Aubrey and Venus and (knowing most of the relationships that go on at Camp Half-Blood) you can imagine what they were like," he answered.

"What about the one besides Nadine and the two you've already mentioned?" I asked after nodding to say I did know what Aubrey and Venus were probably like. He told me that I wouldn't believe him if he told me. Being a cheesy teenager with nothing better to say, I told him to try me but after what he said, I think he succeeded in surprising me. "I shared some of my life with Eos, goddess of the dawn, while I was in her service," he told me.

"Wow, if Thalia and Percy heard you say that they wouldn't believe it. Very few can ever say they went out with the dawn goddess and none have lived to tell of it until now," I said. "Not necessarily true, how else do you think we know of her relationships? By consulting the souls of the dead for the sole purpose of knowing about it?" Gabriel asked.

I had to admit he was right about that and really wished that Thalia and Percy were not out checking the perimeter at this moment. "How long did you two date?" I asked. "From the time we started until I was out of her service so about four and a half months at the very least. Whenever I think about it, sometimes I think I still love her and I wonder if she has the same thought about me," he answered.

"So is that why you stay up at least until sunrise then sleep most of the day at least once a week?" I asked. He had told me and the others that he always stayed up to watch the dawn and the sunrise as his form of worship to Eos. "Yes and that's why when her brother arrives, I try to stay up a little longer but find that I can't," Gabriel said to me. I then asked how he would describe his love for Nadine.

"It was a just a young man's foolish attempt to escape his destiny before it came at him. In truth, I cannot forgive myself for having given her children that not only died but also killed her in the process of their birth," he said. That made sense but I remember what Annabeth had told me about how he had acted around her when he saw her again in the Underworld. "I just missed her badly but either way, I will be reunited with her at the end of my life," he replied when I mentioned it.

"May I admit that I am that same way about my sister? Only without the romantic feelings that you shared with Nadine?" I asked. "It's okay to feel that way about your sister if she's dead like my ex-wife. May I ask why you asked that of me?" Gabriel replied. "Let's just say I had trouble figuring out whether or not I was supposed to feel weird about that," I told him.

"Don't feel weird about it because if you miss your sister then you miss her. What could possibly so weird about missing a dead relative, right?" Gabriel responded. "I guess there's nothing weird about missing the people you love most when they're gone. Especially if they were all you had in an alien world like this still sometimes is to me," I told him. He agreed and we resumed our watch over the ruins of Mount Orthys.


	4. Thalia: Artemis' warning to her Hunters

**Thalia: Artemis leaves a warning for her loyal Hunters**

I was on the patrol for spies from Mount Orthys when I suddenly saw a girl that looked like one of my Hunters killing off a draconae. Three more approached from her flak but I destroyed them before they reached her. She saw another one behind her after I had dealt with the ones coming from her flank and destroyed it. "Thanks for your help Lieutenant Thalia," she said after we finished off two more draconae.

I told her she was welcome then asked her who she was since I had never seen her before. "Well, let's put it this way: what name begins with the letter A and ends with the letter S and is of relevance to the group?" the girl replied. I thought about it for a little bit then I remembered the name with such letters: Artemis, my commander and founder of the Hunters! "My mistress, what brings you to this side of the world?" I asked.

"I came to tell you the situation on Olympus ad leave you a warning. Our father Zeus has forbidden the intervention of the gods in the matter of Prometheus and Ouranos, believing Gabriel to be enough godly force to lead you to victory without them. I agree but his original idea was just to leave you all unaware of that," Artemis explained. "Gabriel is not a god, what gives Zeus the impression that he counts as godly intervention?" I asked.

"He has all the same powers as most of the gods of Olympus, including Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Not only that but he has also been in the service of Olympus long enough to be considered one of us after all his heroic deeds. But now, I have to give the warning that I must leave you with," Artemis answered. A warning from a goddess was never good but one from our commander Artemis was even worse when it considered things like this.

"The Hunters of Artemis must temporarily put aside their discomfort of men and fight with them if you are to survive with Olympus' divine intervention. United, the demigods of the Olympian gods and goddesses can conquer all but divide and you shall be destroyed," Artemis said. Then she made to leave but I stopped her because I had a question for her. "What's so special about Gabriel that Zeus has decided to make him on of you in all but immortality?" I asked.

Artemis looked at me for a long moment without answering than she said something that made no sense at first. "He is the one who will destroy the sky god then become him," she said. She added that our Hunters would be coming and I had to be prepared for their arrival within the next two days. I knew Phoebe was going to despise having to work with men especially since one of them had practically killed her in their first encounter. Nonetheless, I had to make sure that all my Hunters understood that Artemis had ordered us to do our work with men for best results.

Normally, I would agree with them about it being crazy to have to work with men when they were made to swear abstinence from the company of men. But this time, I knew that Artemis had her reasons for ordering us to work with Percy, Nico, and Gabriel. "Also be warned Thalia, tension in the ranks of the Titans may change the outcome of your battle against them for the worst," Artemis said. I asked her how that was possible and she explained that though Prometheus presently held power, Atlas was not sitting too well with that.

"Very soon, Atlas could lead a coup to overthrow his brother and rule the Titans in place of Kronos and Gabriel. When that happens, you must look forward to a fight between yourselves and Atlas," Artemis explained. So Atlas would undermine his brother's authority even when it would have been common sense not to. I asked why he would do that and was told that Atlas' loyalty lies with only two figures: himself and Kronos.

Since the latter was dead, he relied on no one else besides himself and mentally outcast everyone he knew, even the closest family connections. "Is it best to try and stop this from happening if at all possible?" I asked. "Don't do anything yet, I have a better idea than destroying him but it has to work," Artemis answered. At first, I had to think about it after she looked at me in a clever way then I realized what it was.

She intended to use Atlas as her pawn to somewhat infiltrate the Titans and destroy Prometheus without even actually laying a finger. "If it works, we might not need Gabriel to destroy Prometheus after all. But that's just assuming this works out the way I intend it to do," Artemis added. "But one ambitious shall replace the old one, Atlas will be a more horrifying evil than Prometheus," I said.

"Not if we destroy him from inside than outside first. He can't be evil if he's shattered by the deaths of his brothers," Artemis replied. "No, don't proceed with this Artemis! Doing this will only make you just as evil as the Titans and you're not a Titan!" I begged.

"Wouldn't you at least like to know what your enemy's moves are?" Artemis asked. "Give Gabriel that power but don't give it to me, he is the leader of this expedition after all," I answered. "Very well, be it so that Gabriel shall have the power to see what the Titans are up to through the eyes of Atlas," Artemis said. She added on a side note that it was a shame I turned down the power to see what Atlas sees.

"Give it to him as a gift of congratulations for the victory if he defeats Ouranos though. We will be needing that ability to see when the Titans intend to strike at Camp Half-Blood in the event of Ouranos' death," I told her. "You are wise beyond your years mortal, a perfect child for Athena to have spawned from her own head but even better for being a daughter of Zeus and a member of my group," Artemis said to me. We said our goodbyes than I gathered the Hunters to prepare for what might be our final stand together.

Many of them had taken the fight against Gabriel as a serious blow to their pride but a few of them were like me since they chose to look at it as a humbling experience. However, my second-in-command Phoebe was not one of those humble ones since she was one of the elder Hunters of Artemis. And the eldest of the Hunters were seldom ever girls who took defeat by the hands of a man at all much less as well as the younger Hunters and I did. But now at last, Artemis had decreed that we do what was best and in this case, it meant standing alongside men.

I gathered all my Hunters and made them swear on the River Styx to not value the Golden Rule of Artemis over what will save humanity from destruction in situations like this. Even though we all knew how reluctant she was to agree to it, Phoebe ultimately swore to know the difference between when to obey the code and when not to. "Just understand that I intend to keep this kind of civil disobedience against Artemis to a very extreme minimum," she said.

We all hoped for the same thing and even I told her that we all hoped it was kept at a minimum. But as we know from experience, Fate has a way of messing with us all.


	5. Annabeth: Casting aside an old grudge

Annabeth: Casting aside an old grudge to survive

One thing I will have to say about being the only demigod General in the absence of the four most powerful demigods in Camp. It sucks and not only does it suck, it's almost too much work compared to say doing chores for instance. But if there's anything a child of Athena likes the most, it's lots and lots of work to entertain the mind. Chiron had me come up with strategies to defend Camp and I already suggested that we get walls built in places exposed to attack like the Zeus' Fist and the forest where we play Capture the Flag.

Although a lot of Campers didn't like it, I knew it was for the better that we set up fortified walls in places like that. I even made sure to customize the walls already established around the Camp to be both physical and magical. What I wound up having was a metal wall that went around the full range of the Camp and for every thirty feet, there was a post with demigods from Camp watching the posts. On top of the posts was a signal beacon that once lit up would notify all the others to light up until all of the Camp knew of the attack.

Once the entire Camp knew of the incoming enemy there would be no hope for a surprise attack. Believe me when I say that that was a major improvement from how the walls had been before and from Zeus' Fist being exposed to an infiltration of enemy troops. Yes, we still had the magic barrier conjured up by the Fleece but for some reason, the wall seemed to make the magic barrier even stronger. When I took the barrier's strength for a test using an old cannon from the Revolutionary War (courtesy of Nico and his father Hades) and the barrier absorbed the shock like it was nothing.

Not only did it absorb the cannonball, it also thrust it back at the cannon and destroyed it almost immediately. I had also made sure to make regular trips around the wall in order to see to it that the wall was protected and some of the designs in Daedalus' laptop were put to good use. Come on, he gave it to me for finding ways to use his designs before he died and I was doing what I could to use as many as possible. I was called over to one of the beacons by a kid from the Hermes cabin because I was told that there was something wrong with that beacon.

Now I had been tricked into going to see what was wrong with beacons before only to be splashed with water or hit in the face with a pie. So I made this kid swear on the River Styx that he wasn't just doing this for the sake of playing a prank on me. The kid named Mark gave me his oath and we soon arrived at the beacon by Zeus' Fist where the "problem" originated. "Since you have the original designs for these beacons we thought you'd take a look at this beacon and tell me why the lighter isn't working," he explained to me.

It didn't make sense that the lighter wouldn't be working but then I remembered something. The lighter could only be made to not work by either my hand or the hands of a god. Now, I had never given the order for the lighter to the Zeus' Fist beacon to be deactivated so there was only one way it could have happened: a god on Olympus had chosen to deactivate it in my place. It only quick deduction through my memories to see that Hera was behind this and I immediately offered a prayer up to her to demand why she did this.

She was apparently listening and interested because she answered just a few minutes after I had made the prayer. "Ah Annabeth, so good to see such an unfortunately familiar face again," Hera teased. "The pleasure is mine my Queen, I just need to know why you deactivated the lighter for the Zeus' Fist beacon," I replied. She smiled and laughed explaining that her reason was quite simple.

"You see, normally I would continue to hold my grudges until the day I managed to either get even or the subject of the grudge was dead. However, Zeus and Athena have both ordered me to put aside my grudge to you and I tried to think of the most subtle way to get your attention. Though this was not as subtle as usually would be capable of, I had no choice but to go through with it to get your attention," Hera explained. "So you're basically coming to apologize for treating me badly like you had?" I asked.

She nodded and apologized for sending those cows that crapped on my dad's property. Generously, she also apologized for the way she had treated me afterwards before she felt that she had achieved revenge. I returned her generosity and apologized for what I had said in the Labyrinth to start the quest for vengeance. "But let me ask you a question Hera: isn't there another reason why you chose to apologize to me?

"Knowing how you operate, there has to be a bigger reason besides that why you came to apologize," I asked. Hera laughed so I knew that there was another reason for her coming to apologize to me for her vengeful actions against me. "In this dark hour where Prometheus' rebellion threatens to destroy everything that Zeus has created, it is best that the Olympians are as united as possible between both gods and demigods. But please do nothing to regress our new relationship back to what it once was," she answered.

"Please don't insult my intelligence, it makes me irritable. Percy Jackson has already seen how I am when I'm irritated," I warned. "I wouldn't want it that way especially when the lighter has be reactivated and probably will go out of control within the next few minutes," Hera replied. I went immediately to go and make sure that didn't happen, not even stopping to see if Hera had left.

The Zeus' Fist was our most vulnerable spot, I had to make sure that there was no reason for the beacon to go off. Running like a Hermes kid with a tail between his or legs, I arrived at the Zeus' Fist beacon in a few minutes from the forest where I had been. To my surprise, the beacon went off right after I arrived and I saw that there was a battalion of Titan troopers approaching. The beacon went off right on cue and soon, the walls of the camp were alerted to the presence of the battalion.

Luckily for us, it was simply just bringing in the archers and having them shoot down the battalion. Those of them who were smart retreated after seeing their friends die to the arrows of the Apollo kids. But then I realized something: that wasn't a battalion meant to attack and it definitely wouldn't even qualify as a raiding party. This was a scouting party that had tried to test us out for weaknesses.

Soon, the Titans would know how to be able to force most of our defenses to one spot so they could then bring down the main gate. I knew that I had to call for the Hunters of Artemis or some other party that could give chase to the scouts. Immediately, I ordered the nearest patrol of Hermes or a minor god/goddess to give chase and never stop until they destroyed all of the scouts. But my strategy extended past just them giving chase and destroying the scouts, it included exhausting the ones who avoided my patrols in the vain hope that they did not reveal the one weakness they had before they died.

It was a cruel tactic but it was an effective one and a necessary one to protect our camp. Optimistic as he usually was, Chiron agreed that this crude tactic was necessary and Mr. D was his usual careless self about it. My one hope was that not a single scout reached Mount Orthys alive or at least, freshly dead for the Titans to be able to read his mind for his or her last memories. But when I lied down to rest, my dreams did not exactly hint at anything improving for us; in fact, it seemed to take a turn for the worst.

In my dream, I saw thousands of soldiers training to fight with dummies that had the orange Camp Half-Blood shirts on them. Watching them was Atlas and his brother Epimetheus, the former looking a little less pleased with the soldiers than the latter. "Brother, if you're not happy about these soldiers I can assure you that they're the best of the entire army. Not only that but they will not disappoint you when the time comes to fight those accursed demigods," Epimetheus said.

"Well, our brother Prometheus does not share your optimistic appraisal of the trainees. Do me a favor and tell them to take the firmest and most defensive stance they can," Atlas replied. Epimetheus obeyed and all of the soldiers took their most defensive stance possible. He looked at one soldier and complemented him on how firm his stance looked from up-close.

"However, looks are not everything nor are looks even significant in this army," he added before dropkicking the soldier. He watched as the soldier fell down with ease and had barely had enough time to recover before Atlas had thrown down another soldier to the ground. "They are nowhere near the fighting capacity that either I or Prometheus are comfortable with!" Atlas yelled. "I assure you that I'm making strives to improve their abilities with each passing day," Epimetheus replied in calm.

"Perhaps you can tell Prometheus that when he returns from his mission with Ouranos to make special preparations for our backup plan," Atlas said. "He's returning to Mount Orthys from the mission?" Epimetheus asked. "That is correct and he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress," Atlas answered. "Then I shall double my efforts to get them trained in time for the battle," Epimetheus said.

"I hope so Epimetheus, for your own sake. Prometheus and Ouranos are not as forgiving as I am," Atlas warned. Then he marched away to possibly walk the anger out of him, his huge broadsword hanging in its scabbard off the left waist. As he marched, his purple cape flowed with the wind and Epimetheus watched as his brother while their soldiers resumed the exercises. Then he himself decided to leave them to resume the exercises on their own for just a little bit.

I saw how his spear just barely avoided slipping under his tight grip and avoid breaking if it didn't slip from his grasp. After Epimetheus left, my dream's eye turned to see the entire army numbering in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands. All of them were training to kill members of Camp Half-Blood and all of them were training in the Ancient Ways of the Grecian warriors. But that was not the worst part, that came when I saw the skies above their training ground.

The skies above revealed bloodcurdling eyes made from the stars in the night sky. A nose formed followed by a mouth with a beard separated only by the spaces between the stars as well as the shape of the facial features. Just below the beard, the distant form of Prometheus developed and descended down from the heavens with Atlas meeting them at the top of Mount Orthys. After Prometheus descended, a more human form of Ouranos followed and on his belt was the sheathed Sky Sword (also on the left waist).

The only one whose sword was not at his belt was Prometheus and he held the sheathed Black Sword of the Night across his back diagonally to the right. Before my dream ended, I saw four figures just a few miles from the base of Mount Orthys. I recognized them immediately as Gabriel, Nico, Percy, and Thalia and I knew what they were likely doing right now. If they had not already done so, they were making preparations to assault Mount Orthys before the armies of the Titans were even ready for it.

But just as I thought the dream was coming to a conclusion, an image of Hera came up and everything else disappeared. "This is my gift to you Annabeth Chase as proof of my sincerity in our little alliance. Your friends are already there and they will attack Mount Orthys on schedule. In two days, you will have to begin making preparations for any retaliation from the Titans," she said.

I woke up drenched in sweat through my nightgown and it was a good thing I had my knife within easy reach because I thought something was attacking me. As it turned out, it was just my brother Malcolm wondering if I was all right since he saw me sweating. "I'm all right Malcolm, I just had a vision about the events going on right now near Mount Orthys," Annabeth said. "Are they all right at the moment or should we be wondering about their safety?" Malcolm asked.

"I am pretty sure they're fine, I saw nothing in the vision that would hint otherwise. But I must say that the Titans are on the verge of an army more than capable of destroying Camp Half-Blood and still have the capacity to hold their own on Olympus," I answered. "A sign from the gods of events to come in the near future?" Malcolm asked. "Just one god: Hera, queen of the gods of Olympus herself," I answered.

"Why would she want to help you if she's out for your blood?" Malcolm inquired. I explained to him about Hera apologizing for treating me the way she had been and explained the reasons she gave for doing it. "Something's fishy about that but Fate shall decide whether to tell us the truth of it or not," he said with a shrug. I agreed with him because we both knew there wasn't much more to do than trust Fate to do what it wanted to with information like that.

To pass the time quietly, (this was the hour where we were supposed to be sleeping but I couldn't sleep after that) I decided to write a note for Percy to read when he got back to Camp. I made several attempts that I failed miserably at since I was a better strategist and orator than I was a note-writer, apparently. Then I asked Malcolm to help me in spite of his grouchy mood from being woken up again for a love note. At first, I was a loss for reasons to write a love-note but then I remembered that in the event that Gabriel and the team emerged victorious, there would be a big firework celebration.

Malcolm wrote the note, handed it to me, then went back to bed so that way he could get some sleep in before the morning. I read the note carefully to make sure he had copied every word correctly and even went as far as to quadruple check that it sounded all right to me. After that, I made sure to put it in the left back pocket of my jeans that I intended to wear tomorrow so that I didn't forget it. With that all tossed aside, I decided to try and get some sleep since Chiron would be needing me in the morning to make the final preparations for the event of the Titans assaulting Camp Half-Blood.

One thing I knew was that fortifying new walls and constructing beacons would be pushovers compared to the things I had to do for the next week. I just hoped that I would have my Percy back by then to keep me sane inside the insanity of next week.


	6. Percy: Helping to rekindle an old flame

Percy: Helping to rekindle a old flame

I was on patrol to make sure that my group had not been spotted yet when I realized that my shift was almost up and soon it would be Nico's turn. Thalia would be returning at the same time to give her shift over to Gabriel in order to keep us safe until we were ready to make a move. I turned around on the trail I was at (for the sake of confidentiality, I will not name it but it is near Mount Tam) and returned to our little mini-camp immediately. But just before I got to camp, a voice called to me and I was forced to follow in order to find the source of it.

I went through camp and at first, Nico thought I was being a klutz but Gabriel stopped him before he could stop me. "No Nico, I recognize this for what it is since I've had it happen to me before. The goddess of the dawn is calling him to her as she once called me," Gabriel added. "Then where do I go to find her?" I asked.

"You go to where you hear her voice the clearest then you wait for her to take you to her realm. But be warned, fail to heed this and you will never have a chance to talk to her until the next dawn. And I'm pretty sure we're running out of time at an unreasonably dangerous rate," Gabriel answered. I did as was instructed and followed the voice to where it was loudest then waited for Eos to come to me to take me to her domain.

Then something that felt like a gentle hand closed my eyes and I apparently fell asleep for the ride. When I awoke a few minutes later, I was in a cemented stadium with a garden to one side and stairs leading to some sleeping chambers on the other. "Come Perseus Jackson, I await you in my chambers," the gentle voice of the goddess called. I walked up the stairs leading to the sleeping chambers and soon, I arrived at a massive chamber that had at least twelve enormous beds that had curtains to pull over for privacy at night.

Six beds were on each side but there was an equally large bed in the middle with the goddess Eos sitting in it. "Welcome my friend to my Palace of the Dawn in the Western end of the Earth," Eos greeted me. "The honor of meeting you is all mine, Lady Eos," I replied as I tried to kiss her hand in formality. "Oh please, I'm not Aphrodite nor do I need such formality however polite it is," Eos assured me.

"Then if it is not too rude, I would like to ask you why you brought me here. Could you not have brought Gabriel here or maybe one of my friends from Camp?" I asked. "I brought you here because I have no courage to ask Gabriel what I wish to ask you in person," Eos answered. Somehow I knew this was going to involve the relationship between Eos and Gabriel before I met.

"Does this involve what you two had in the past or no?" I asked. "It does and it especially involves what happened toward the end of our relationship," she answered. I knew better than to ask what happened but I guess she must have been reading mind since she knew I was curious to find out. "Just four days before his service to me ended, after we had had our nights of pleasure as a means of me moving past my father, Zeus came to me and told me to tell Gabriel the truth about his mother," she began.

"He told me that all he remembered of her was her name and the sound of her laughter," I said. "And that was all he knew of her until Zeus stepped in during his service to me," she said with a nod. When I urged her to do so, she continued with what she had to say. "Over the next two days, I continued to share my bed with him but even the love I made with him was not enough to keep me from thinking about what Zeus had me tell him.

"On the night before his final day of service to me, I told him about his mother and about why he only remembered her laughter and name. She had not died at birth like he had been led to believe by his uncle and his aunt but rather, she died protecting him. Protecting him from his father Kronos when he came to destroy Gabriel that is," she explained. She inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly as she told the tale from Gabriel's past.

"Mary ran to the shrine she had built for me with baby Gabriel cradled in her arms and prayed to me for protection. I took Gabriel into my arms but before I could save his mother, Kronos separated us and killed her. But I assured him that she went down fighting that wicked Titan with valor and courage. He was not even a year old when Kronos had tried to destroy him and I knew that I couldn't hold on to him as Zeus forbid such a thing.

"I took him to his mother's brother and his wife for safekeeping. Since they reeked of mortal stench, Gabriel was protected for years from his father and the other Titans. When I told him that what he had went through was to protect him from the greater evil that is his father and the Titans, he made a new vow. By this time, he had vowed to avenge his family but he made a new pact specifically deigned to deliberately see his father disgraced.

"This new vow was that he would hunt down any Titan who was not affiliated with Olympus even if he had to spend the rest of his life doing so. I cried because he had dedicated it not only to his family but also to me for I had never had never been added to a list of dedications for a quest to glory before. He and I made love one last time then he left the next day to begin his service to my sister Selene," she told me. I listened to her story but found it extremely difficult not to cry as she told it.

Then I heard something that I knew was not true. "He probably thinks ill of me for revealing what the truth to him. Does he ever talk ill of me for what I had told him on his final night of service to me?" she asked. I hesitated, unknowing of what to say to her to make her happier and more comfortable about Gabriel.

Then I knew what to say since I remembered something that my mother told me when I was a little boy. "Son, whenever you are dealing with people in love, sometimes it is best to know one and use your knowledge of that person to comfort the other. However, it's even better if you do it in the simplest of words to the person requesting knowledge of the ones they love," she told me. At that point, I knew what I had to say to make Eos feel better about Gabriel's feelings for her.

"He still loves you but he does not know if you love him back. He worships you everyday by watching the sunrise," I said. She looked up to me like she couldn't believe what I had just said but we both knew it was true. "Thank you Percy for wiping my fears away from me. I have one more favor to ask of you, son of Poseidon: will you take this necklace back to him when I take you back to your camp?" she asked as she unlatched a golden necklace with rubies on it.

I extended a hand and she put the necklace in it, telling me that Gabriel deserved to have it back as proof of her love. "I'm sorry but he deserves to have it _back_?" I asked. "He had Hephaestus make it for me once, he wore it for a while but he decided to give it to me before he left to serve my sister. Tell him that the powers of the dawn and the sun will spare no mercy to Prometheus on that day when Gabriel finally confronts him in a final battle for the world as long as he wears this necklace," she answered.

I nodded and said I would do all she asked then she gave me a gift of her own. It was a pale-blue emerald with a chain around tied to it for me to wear around my neck. "Keep this or give it to your beloved Annabeth, this is my gift for you to use as you please," she told me. I thanked her and was guided back to the hall where I had been when I entered her domain.

Shortly thereafter, I was taken back to the camp with all the gifts that Eos had given me and Gabriel asked me how the conversation went. At that point, I could not talk since I knew how he would react if I said anything about the conversation and instead, I handed the necklace to him. "She still loves you and she wants you to know that the powers of the dawn and the sun will spare no mercy for Prometheus as long as you wear this necklace," I said. Gabriel looked at the necklace after taking it into his hand for a long time then said that he had had Hephaestus make it for her a long time ago.

"She wanted me to give it back to you as a gift from her," I told him. He held it in his hand as he clenched it hard and a tear fell from his eye as he held it close to him. Then I saw him put it around his neck and vow that he would make sure that Prometheus faced him under such conditions. "But not today, today we will focus on defeating Ouranos and stealing the Sky Sword from him," he added.

I nodded and kept my necklace safe in my shirt pocket before going back to the tent to rest from the patrol. "Percy, can I tell you something real quick?" Gabriel asked. I nodded and I asked him what it was he wanted to say. "Thank you," he said and that was it.

I told him he was welcome and then saw him off to the patrol that he had to undertake. Nico also underwent the patrol and I sat with Thalia in the tent to talk about anything. Normally, she would not be working with men as her mistress Artemis forbid even the slightest amount of contact with a man. But this time, we had something that we were both thinking about that we wanted to talk about: Gabriel.

"When I first met him, I knew we were going to be friends if we were not fighting each other. He's one of the best I have had since Charles Beckendorf or even my friend Grover," I said and that was true. "When I first encountered him, this feeling of warmth and comfort with him came over me like a high-paced tsunami. I am still not sure if it was love or if it was even just a temptation that he created for me," she said.

"Well, one thing I will say: you certainly don't want it growing large enough to make Artemis suspicious of your loyalty," I told her. "I have been making strives to keep it from growing too much because I know his heart belongs purely to Eos now that he has laid Nadine to permanent peace in Elysium. I just wonder for him and wonder if he is really truly safe from the threats that surround us," she assured me. "What threats do you mean exactly because I'm pretty sure he's safe from any threats the Titans can make to him," I said.

"Unless it's against someone he loves (of whom he does not have that many) you're right. But I am seeing how he is trying to get over the guilt caused by his family's deaths but his guilt is winning over his psyche," she said. "I hope it doesn't come as a distraction when he finally fights Prometheus," I said. We agreed on that then rested from our work earlier on in the day before we were told it was time to begin the assault.


	7. Nico: Resurrecting dead souls

Nico: Bringing the souls of the dead to life for one last fight and the "aftershocks"

Before we even had to go on another patrol, Gabriel announced that it was time to bring back the souls of the dead. "Our army awaits our next orders, it is best that we not keep them waiting any longer than they already have," Gabriel said. Quickly, we examined that Orthys was protected by revived Persian soldiers from the Greco-Persian wars then I formulated a means of countering them.

I decided to conjure the Greeks who had defeated them combined with the armies of those who had been conquered by them in years preceding the Greco-Persian wars. An army like that with vengeance in the cold empty spaces that used to be in most of their hearts was an army not to be taken lightly. I smiled because I realized that Erebus' blessing had made me much stronger than I normally would have been and I wanted to test the enhancement of my powers for this assignment. "Give me some space, I don't think they're going to be coming out with a good mood on them," I said.

Gabriel pushed Thalia and Percy back then backed up with them, wisely heeding my warning. "Hey Nico!" Gabriel called before I started with the spell. I turned to him and asked him what he wanted to say. "You have the powers of two gods in you, use their powers well and use them plenty," he said.

I nodded to implicate that I understood what he meant and thanked him for the advice. Knowing what to do in order to use Erebus powers effectively and with great efficiency, I plunged my sword almost all the way into the ground and made sure that my palms were safe from any light while they did their work. "Souls of Hades, souls of the ancient times," I began.

"Move it people, move it. This is some serious crap if it's done right!" Gabriel exclaimed. "How many souls would he be reviving if he succeeds?" Thalia asked. "Let me put it in these terms: they'll outnumber the Persian souls by nearly two times as many," Gabriel answered.

That was the last thing I heard before I continued with the spell. "Souls whose lives were ended by Persian blades, souls who fought against them even when there was no hope! I command thee to stand with the Grecians who defeated them and obtain the retribution you rightfully deserve," I chanted. Then I fell into a trance and chants of Ancient Greek came uttering from my mouth as though I were fluent in the language.

I felt the souls course through me and I even heard some of the souls of the commanding officers swear their allegiance to me and anyone of my friends immediately present. "Swear allegiance to me, Perseus Jackson, Thalia Grace, and Gabriel Johnson for the duration of your temporary return to Earth," I replied to them. They did in the mutually Greek custom of swearing on the River Styx to take commands only from the four of us as long as they were on Earth. Then I commanded them to rise from the Earth and take the vengeance they rightfully deserved against the Persians who had made them suffer a blow to their honor while they were alive.

First came the victims that had fallen to Persian blades before anyone else. Then came those who went after them and also died before their nations were conquered by the Persians. Finally, the last of the nations that had been conquered by Persia came and the beginning of the Grecian line of warriors was underway. Figures like Leonidas (who stood against the Persians at the Thermopylae pass) and Alexander the Great (who had struck the blow that destroyed the Persians, by the way) saluted me.

All of them in the order I had mentioned came surging through my body and took a firm, upright stance for the first time since they had died. Gabriel laid out the strategy for them as they arrived and I just continued to have souls fly through my body from my sword. The most frightening thing about this was that I saw all of this happening while I was continuing with the ceremony that would bring hundreds of thousands of souls back to life once finished. When at last, the Grecian warriors began coming from the Underworld, Gabriel told them that until they at least made it into Mount Orthys they were under Thalia's command.

As for me and this whole operation of bringing souls back from the dead? I felt like my own life was fading away from me fast but not that as much as my consciousness. In the case of my consciousness, I felt like I could sleep for days or even a couple of weeks since my need for recovery would be that bad. _Be careful Nico, you almost sent yourself into a two-month coma doing that _I heard the voice of my father say.

_What's the worst I'm going to suffer from this? I know that I'm gonna be physically suffering from this _I asked him. _The worst you're going to take in is a three-week period of sleep that's consecutive. And trust me, you'll wake up with the desire to eat more than you've ever eaten in your whole life, which would be good for you after a three week sleep _he answered.

_You've done this sort of thing before? _I inquired. _Let's just say that I was lucky I was a god and therefore have little if any understanding of what it's like for you _he assured me. I smiled and even chuckled at that happy little note from the ruler of the Underworld a.k.a. my father. Then I fell into darkness, the last memories of consciousness being Gabriel picking me up and Thalia wondering for my safety.

Percy was also assuring her that I was going to be fine and that I was going to recover from it. "Welcome to the world between death and life where all those who have been rendered unconscious go," said a god I had never met before. "Who are you?" I asked. "I'm Hypnos, god of sleep and I will be your host while you are in my domain," the god answered.

"What about my friends, will they be needing me anytime soon?" I inquired. I had to make sure my friends would be all right without me for the few weeks I would be knocked out. "Thanks to your temporary loss of consciousness, they will not only be fine but will also have the manpower to overrun Orthys in a maximum time of two days and a minimum of not half that," Hypnos assured me. "You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere before?" I asked.

"Hmm, you might have seen me in your sleep before Morpheus entered to grant you dreams. Unless you also saw my half-brother Thanatos, he tends to rub off some of his more-deathly-traits on me," Hypnos explained. I thought about that name for a moment because it also sounded familiar then it occurred to me. Thanatos was the god of death itself and related to Hypnos through their mother Nyx, goddess of the night.

"Do not worry, my half-brother has no power here unless I consent to him having power but even then it is very temporary. You will be safe for the duration of your stay in my domain," Hypnos told me. That was one less thing I had to worry about in all the things I had to worry about. Still I wonder if getting back to the conscious world was going to be an easy ordeal or if it was going to be very painful.


	8. Annabeth: Preparing for the inevitable

Annabeth: Preparing the campers for the inevitable

Chiron called an emergency meeting that I had to attend to just a few days after the incident with the scouting party. The meeting was simple enough with only the cabin counselors brought and boy was I in for a surprise. Chiron told me to tell them about the incident with the scouting party and the fact that a few had escaped. "At this moment, I do not know if the survivors of the scouting party made it back to Orthys but since it has only been a few days since the incident I have confidence that it is not the case," I said in a brief but understandable report.

"Well that's just great brainiac, how are we going to prevent the Titans from taking over Camp Half-Blood if they decide to mount a full-scale war?" Clarisse of the Ares cabin asked. "According to a dream that I had, the recruits are not yet confident of their skills and must be tested before Prometheus and his brothers can carry out any assault on this facility," I answered. I remembered that dream very well since Atlas was unusually disquieted by the lack of training in the soldiers they were using. "Let's hope they haven't laid their hands on a weapon that could help them through our walls if they attacked," Drew of the Aphrodite cabin said.

"Drew, don't you be worrying about that when you don't even know how to use a knife to cut food. You're no warrior, you're just a laid-back coward who seduces boys to her bed when she chooses," Clarisse said. "Is that a challenge because I have enough power to take you down?" Drew asked. "Oh what, you're going to put makeup all over me and dress me up?" Clarisse snapped.

"Enough both of you, this is exactly what I do not want us doing when the Titans come marching on our doorstep! Stop this immediately or I will find replacement counselors for both of you," Chiron ordered. Clarisse was quick to back down but Drew insisted on looking very spiteful and vowed silently that Clarisse would pay dearly. She even vowed that she would get Clarisse the moment this war ended and they didn't have to work together.

"Annabeth, what do you suggest we do between preparing for war and waiting for them to come to us?" Chiron asked. "I suggest both, prepare for war in a way where when they come we will destroy them. The way I have seen bigger armies being taken down throughout history is that they were brought on the domain of the smaller enemy," I answered. "Please explain that in a manner we can all understand what you're saying," Clarisse said.

"Let me put it this way: in chess, the pawns go first. Our pawns go first to lure in the enemy then our stronger forces unite with them to destroy the Titan forces," I replied. "Are you suggesting that we put the new arrivals and all the children of the minor gods first then bring in our stronger ones?" Drew asked, surprised. "By the time they realize that they are fighting stronger demigods than they thought they were, it will be too late for them to escape," I explained.

"Don't worry, you're not going to be put on the spotlight just yet. Besides, we can't have all of our cabins fighting," Chiron assured her. "That is correct and I was thinking of it this way: everybody has a function whether for combat or not. In the case of the Aphrodite cabin, their purpose would be to deliver supplies to certain rendezvous points," I explained.

"Then what about the Hermes kids? They would certainly be faster than the Aphrodite cabin members in that case," Travis Stoll of Hermes asked me. "You would be better for espionage, messaging, and stealing items from the enemy. On top of that you can each hold your own against enemy soldiers if you were caught for a short period of time besides, the Aphrodite kids need a purpose even if it's a lazy one," I answered.

"Wouldn't the Hypnos kids be good for an espionage mission since they don't even have to go behind enemy lines to spy on them?" Amy Delgado of the Hypnos cabin asked. "You would be good for espionage in the sense that you can hear entire conversations but sometimes, we don't need conversations but items," I assured her. "Then I will have my fellow campers be sure to do the best they can on that end," Amy said. I nodded to her then Drew asked what the Aphrodite kids would be doing.

"Let's just say we'll have you put to work delivering supplies to the Asclepius children when they need medications to hand the wounded and/or infected. I will also be needing your assistance in bringing food and beverages to tired soldiers that can't reach the pavilion such as those who are assigned to the sentry posts," I explained. "That is certainly better than being asked to pick up a sword and slay monsters thus ruin your makeup, right?" Chiron asked Drew. Most of the cabin leaders, including myself, laughed at that comment because for once Chiron had the joke and not a Hermes kid.

"Morpheus forgives the mistreatment of the greater gods and will allow his children to fight for you," Jose the leader of the Morpheus cabin swore. "Nemesis, goddess of revenge, has consented to her children fighting for you!" Karen of the Nemesis cabin agreed. We heard oaths made on the River Styx until all of our new arrivals agreed to fight with us when the time came to fight. "Then let us prepare for the battle for Camp Half-Blood, we're at war with the Titans," I said.

"Spears and shields would be nice for us," Karen said. "Katanas are our specialties," Jose said. "I will have the Hephaestus kids on it as soon as possible," I replied to both of them. "The Hecate cabin would like to have guns if possible and make those shotguns, it is a good backup when our magic fails," Lou Ellen of the Hecate cabin said. "I will have a box established by the Hephaestus cabin where you can write your requests," I assured her.

"If this is the case, I'm going to look at the box at the end of each day during the preparations. I am pretty sure I will get some incredible requests that will surely challenge the Hephaestus cabin," Jake Mason, the leader of the cabin, said. "Pray to your father that you'll have the manpower and skill to fulfill every request," I agreed. "With preparations underway, I declare that (both in the absence and the presence of Gabriel, Percy, Thalia, and Nico) Annabeth shall be Supervising General and Supreme Strategist of the preparations for our new war with the remaining Titans of Kronos," Chiron shouted.

I was surprised to hear that but then yet again, I was the one coming up with the ideas for the war preparations. "She, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, and Thalia Grace will be of equal power. However, for Gabriel I am making him my equal: Supreme General of Camp Half-Blood's mobilizing armies," Chiron added. He concluded by saying that Percy, Nico, Thalia and I answered to him and Gabriel.

"Mr. Chiron before the meeting is dismissed, I would like to ask why Gabriel gets such a prestigious position when he hasn't even been here a full year. I don't doubt that his lineage, which is mutual to yours, counts but besides that why?" Drew asked. At first, Chiron hesitated and I guessed it was because he was at a temporary loss for words since he never saw it coming. "He's dealt with entire armies by himself before and has even killed at least four Titans, I figured his experience would deserve a prestigious position in this camp," Chiron answered.

Murmurs flew throughout the entire meeting room and such comments as "He's a god-slayer?" and "He's killed gods? I thought gods were immortal and could not die" went around. To pacify their need for answers, Chiron ordered them to silence and asked me to explain the logic behind it. At first, I had my moment to lose my train of thought but then it came to me quickly. "Killing a god is possible, it's just incredibly hard to do for those that don't know how," I began.

"You mean to tell us there's a certain way to kill a god?" Clarisse asked, excited by the idea. "It's not that there's a certain way, it's that it usually requires a lot of power to be able to kill a god. Though the Olympians are superior, the Titans by themselves are not to be underestimated when one intends to go to combat with them. Yes the gods are immortal however, they are not _invincible_," I answered.

Everyone, including Chiron, listened in silence as I explained what I meant. "Immortality means that no natural means of death can affect you such as old age or disease. However, invincibility means you cannot be killed by weapons, poisons, and other unnatural means of death. To top it all off, the gods are just… physical incarnations of a magic that we mortals can never destroy: the magic of the universe," I explained.

"Annabeth is right even if a god is destroyed, their essence continually exists as part of the magic of the universe. That extends to any immortal including myself so technically, we too have an afterlife just like mortals," Chiron added. "That explains a lot and it sure does explain how the heck the Titan Krios might have disappeared with the fall of Mount Orthys," Will Solace said. Everyone agreed with nods of affirmation and also thought that it made sense.

"Yes, Gabriel is a God-slayer but only when he needs to be such as when he fights Prometheus for instance. Another instance is when he slew Hyperion as a test of his abilities for us before we had him brought here," Chiron added. Everyone was taken by surprise and many asked Chiron how it was possible for Hyperion to escape the prison that Grover had created. "It's a long story but in the end, Gabriel silenced him and that was the end of any rebellion from Hyperion," Chiron replied.

"Enough talk, the more we talk the more time we give them to attack us. Let us begin preparations by first adjourning this meeting," I ordered. Chiron agreed and adjourned the meeting for us to begin preparations for Prometheus' inevitable assault on our camp. "I'll have a box ready to accept requests shortly Annabeth, count on it having to be emptied at least twice," Jake said.

"Believe me, I'm not worried about that. All I'm worried is if you have the manpower and the skills for such tasks as what may be requested of you," I told him. "By the gods, you worry too much for just us. Why not worry instead for whether or not the Aphrodite children will even do their part?" Jake asked.

I snorted in agreement and told him that perhaps that was better. "Or better yet, why not pray to the gods that Gabriel, Percy, Thalia, and Nico will succeed in their forcible entry of Mount Orthys?" Jake asked. "That I will most definitely do because if they don't succeed, the retaliation of the Titans will be brutal, savage, and without mercy," I answered. "Good luck on getting at least your mother to listen, you know how the gods can be sometimes," Jake said and I nodded.

I watched as he then walked back to his cabin and I was amazed he was even walking. Because for one thing, he was wearing a full body cast thanks to burns from our mechanical dragon Festus for crying out loud! Believe me, that was enough to make even Chiron wonder how he was still able to move around as though it was no big deal. Then Katie and Miranda Gardiner came up to me and asked what they could do to help with the war efforts.

"I think you will be most useful creating food for us just in case strawberries and the pavilion food are not enough. In fact, come to think of it, you would be most useful as cooks since you do have the ability to grow and manipulate plants plus your mother is the goddess of agriculture," I said. "I will have my fellow cabin members begin work as soon as possible," Miranda said. "Is that what you want, for us to start ASAP?" Katie asked.

I nodded and they ran off to tell their cabin members what they would be doing. Castor of the Dionysus cabin also asked me what he could do for the camp and I told him that created healthy beverages and growing more strawberries would definitely help the cause. "I'll be sure to have my cabin members begin their duties and also may I add that they will have to defend the fields if the Titans get through the walls?" he asked. I nodded and he thanked me before running off to inform his own cabin members of their responsibilities for the assault from Prometheus. When I finally arrived at my cabin, I must have had at least six cabin counselors ask me what they could do to help and my brain was just too fried to do anymore.

I lied down on my bed and that was when Malcolm had returned from one of his chores. "Hey sis, you awake?" he asked. I told him I was and asked him what it was he wanted to tell or ask me. "Between you and me, I just received a private Iris message from Percy Jackson while you were in the meeting," he told me.

"What did he have to tell me?" I asked. "He told me that he was about to lead the first assault on Mount Orthys and Nico had been knocked unconscious in the process of bringing up an army but in case he died, he wanted you to know he loves you very much and thinks of you a lot," he answered. I thought about that and admitted that I found it very sweet and comforting to know he was alive. "Did Gabriel have anything to say before the Iris message disconnected?" I inquired.

"Just to have the campers ready for battle as soon as possible, regardless of the success or failure of the mission to steal the Sky Sword and defeat Ouranos. Thalia wished you luck and preparing us for our renewed war with the Titans and wished she could be here to help you now," Malcolm explained. "Did you tell them that I said thanks and that I wished them luck?" I asked. "That was the first thing I did just before I lost contact with them on the Iris message," he answered with a nod.

_Hopefully Seaweed Brain comes through, Thalia and Nico too. As for Gabriel, I not only hope he makes it but that he has the Sky Sword in his possession when they return _I thought to myself. But then, Gabriel sparked other thoughts in me like how he had changed the whole feel of the Camp ever since he arrived. Just one visit was enough to change everything besides Drew's sexual status of course.

I wondered what it was about him besides his past that brought about that special aura he always brought in. By the time I fell asleep, I was inconclusive about anything and decided that for now it was best if it stayed that way and I could solve it later.


	9. Percy: Attacking Mount Orthys' remnants

Percy: Leading the assault on Mount Orthys' already ruined palace

Nico's sacrifice had brought us all to this point starting with my lead. So I made sure my soldiers knew what I was getting into before I ran toward the gates of Orthys with Thalia at my side. The first thing that happened was that we came under the firepower of the Persian archers but Thalia allowed me to duck behind her shield while they shot at us. We simply brushed off the firepower of the Persian archers, which followed with the laughter of our soldiers just before they returned fire with their archers and cleared the front gates for us.

Once we were past the front gates, the assault towards the base of the mountain was somewhat easy but required some extremities. Because I bore the curse of Achilles, I could not die but I decided it was best that I didn't look like a walking pin cushion when we were under the fire of their arrows. Thalia repeatedly jabbed with her spear and even killed some of the soldiers on her side while I had my hands full on at least thirteen Persian soldiers. All of them fell before me with ease and I realized that it was mainly because of the fact that they had no actual armor but instead, were covered in a material hardly any thicker silk or polyester.

I dodged arrows and used a nearby spring to wipe out the archers shooting at me before I turned the water around to help Thalia escape from the Persians surrounding her. Soaked as she was, she thanked me for saving her life but then we wondered where Gabriel was and we saw him closing on the stairs leading to the Black Throne. "Holy crap, how did he get ahead of us while we were busy fighting Persians down here?" Thalia asked. "I don't know but I think it might be best to catch up with him and help him the rest of the way," I answered.

Thalia then improvised on how we could get there by using the wind and lightning powers of her father to temporarily clear a path for us. Once we reached Gabriel though, he told us to be prepared for the arrival of some of the Titans. "There are three Titans with Ouranos, expect two of them to be sent down to separate us from one another," Gabriel shouted over the clash of swords against swords and spears against shields. "You make it sound like a pleasantry," Thalia teased.

"If one of the Titans sent to separate us is Atlas, I don't think pleasantries will be provided dear niece," Gabriel replied. "Hey uncle Gabe, how about showing a little more optimism? The assault has been going as planned so far and I think it will keep that way at least until we reach the Black Throne," I shouted to him. "Don't count on that luck remaining for long, even if there is a chance we can reach the Black Throne before it runs out," Gabriel told me in a tone that normally would have been assuring but this time, it wasn't.

Thalia blocked arrows flying from the right, I deflected arrows coming in from the right, and Gabriel just simply let the ones straight ahead bounce off his armor. We even had a couple of spears hurled at us from certain directions and watched our step since we knew we could be surrounded at any moment. Then just after I had that thought, we were surrounded by enemy soldiers and they told us to drop our weapons and surrender. "I would be the first to gladly drop my arms if it weren't for the fact that your enemy soldiers are cutting down your men from behind and will soon undo your little trap," Gabriel replied.

A Persian captain turned in the direction Gabriel pointed to see that that was true and he ordered the soldiers to quickly forget about us and rush down to defend against the Grecians. Gabriel smiled and told us that the reason that gag worked was because souls of the dead could only focus on one thing at a time. "But you have to make sure you're giving them a big task otherwise they won't turn away from the task they're already doing. The Grecian souls fighting for us are a larger threat to them than four people and so they decided to let us go because of that," he explained as we continued our ascent.

Gabriel cut down souls that got in our way unless they reached my sword or Thalia's spear first. But as I climbed up the stairs alongside Thalia and Gabriel (we had seen to it that Nico was on his way back to camp earlier), I experienced something I had never had outside of sleep. A premonition on what was to happen possibly within the next few moments since I was still on Orthys when in the dream. In the dream, we had reached the top of the mountain as well as the doorway to the Black Throne.

Then a figure with a huge spear in hand came out and challenged me to a duel. I knew it was a Titan from the way he presented himself so I made sure to try and warn Gabriel and Thalia when I had the chance. And I accepted knowing that it would allow my friends to reach the Black Throne and find Ouranos thus finding the Sky Sword that we had come for. Just as the premonition ended, the Titan I had seen in my dreams showed up at the front door to the Black Throne.

"Gabriel Johnson, I challenge thee to a death-match!" the Titan shouted. "I speak and fight for Gabriel, if you wish to fight him you will have to destroy me first!" I replied. "No Percy, that Titan is too powerful for you!" Thalia said. "No that's Epimetheus, Prometheus' weaker brother and trust me when I say Percy can take this guy," Gabriel assured her.

"Besides, you get a chance to reach the Sky Sword without interference if you go and I fight him. Go now while you still can!" I shouted. "He's right Thalia, let's get a move on before Epimetheus changes his mind about letting us pass to duel with Percy," Gabriel told her. Gabriel rushed Thalia on while I stayed with the Titan and the fighting armies below us at the base of the mountain.

"We meet at last Perseus Jackson, he who single-handedly defeated Kronos on Mount Olympus nearly four weeks before," Epimetheus said to me. "I should assume that we've met before but I don't quite want to do that," I responded. "Well, I was briefly by the side of Antaeus before my brother recalled me if that's what you mean," Epimetheus said. Then I remembered where I had seen him, his blond hair was what had started the kick to remembering him in the Labyrinth.

"Enough talk though, I suggest we fight before my brothers think I am committing treason," Epimetheus said before thrusting his spear at me. I dodged it then slashed just behind the head of the weapon with Riptide. Unfortunately, I missed my mark because he was whirling the spear around to hit me in the back of the head. I dodged it quickly then charged at him to place a stab on his chest until I noticed that he was whirling the spear again but in the opposite direction to try again in hitting me.

Then I noticed that there was only one way for me to dodge the blow to my head: jump up and over Epimetheus. I swung Riptide over my head and made the jump on a hunch that I could dodge the blow and simultaneously strike one of my own at the Titan. The jump succeeded and I timed it just right so that I slashed up from just above his backside and ending just before I reached his head. Grunting, Epimetheus was stunned long enough for me to dive back to my feet and turn to make another blow.

Then Epimetheus turned and jabbed the spear at me with all his fury. I dodged the blow and pushed the spearhead to the ground before punching my enemy in the face. Without even realizing my own strength, I shattered Epimetheus' nose almost completely and I watched as ichor freely flowed in both of his nostrils and into his lips. But Epimetheus disregarded that injury and attempted to give me a punch to the face for me to experience.

I barely dodged by leaning back then I decided to come back by giving him a head butt. To my surprise, I hit his left temple and I watched as the injury swelled to interfere with the sight in his left eye. But the most miraculous part of that was that there was no swelling on my forehead since I used it to hit him hard enough for his whole left temple to go purple. "You will pay for what you have done, I promise you that!" Epimetheus shouted in pained rage.

"Um, you know you can heal from all these injuries in a minute with just the power of your mind right? You're a god, you can do that you know," I said. Okay, I'll admit that I was asking for it but I heard that Epimetheus was actually pretty dumb compared to his brother. It's not that I was _hoping _he knew he could recover from his injuries, it was that I was counting on the rumors being true to the point where he didn't even know his own abilities.

Then the funniest thing happened and it was so funny that I was laughing about it afterwards with my friends. He literally dropped his spear and began thinking about that to the point where he was scratching his head. Now I was really realizing what Gabriel meant when he said that I could defeat Epimetheus easily. It wasn't that Epimetheus was not a powerful god (he was actually the most powerful of the Titans second to Hyperion and third to his brother Atlas).

The truth was, for all his trouble, he was not a really bright one. It was truly no wonder why Prometheus was disappointed in him when he had squandered the gifts his brother had intended for man by making animals with them. Then again, I had to remember that because of that, Prometheus was able to give the greatest of all: a human heart that was similar to a gods heart. It was almost disappointing that I had to fight Epimetheus but as we all know, we do what we have to in order to insure a safe world.

While he was still thinking, I stabbed him in the abdomen, slashed him across the kneecap, then watched as he fell down to the ground in defeat. "Sorry dude but if you wish to kill a demigod, let alone your brother, you're going to have to learn about what powers you have and don't have," I told him. "I know enough to call upon a swarm of my soldiers to destroy you while I figure out how to recover from these wounds," Epimetheus replied. Sure enough, he did and I had no chance to join up with my friends like I had originally intended to do after defeating Epimetheus.

I called upon the Grecian warriors and they managed to send me three hundred Spartans, six hundred Arcadians, and about two hundred Athenians. Luckily, that was all I needed to get through the mob of Persian soldiers but by the time I got through I knew I would have to leave. But that was all right because my part here was done and Epimetheus had cowered away when his goons attempted to kill me. "You've done well soldiers now go and see if you can help our friends inside the Black Throne," I told them before heading for the exit and calling for Blackjack to take me home.


	10. Thalia: Kronos' domain & the foe inside

Thalia: The domain of Kronos and the enemy waiting in its remnants

Gabriel and I rushed into the beginning halls of the Black Throne of Orthys after Percy went to hold off Epimetheus. We ran with Gabriel leading the way on hunches on the quality of his memory since the hall was undoubtedly a mess. The bricks of partially destroy pillars were scattered around the floor so we had to watch our step.

Drapes were torn nearly all the way and pieces of those drapes lied around where they had fallen. Some of the pieces were even burned as though the Titans had torched them when Kronos died. The only thing intact was this door-shaped pillar of green-yellow light that shone brightly from its end of the hall and almost to ours. "It's a portal to the upper levels, I know because I used it to complete my escape from Mount Orthys," Gabriel explained.

"Does it have any time-limits?" I asked. He shook his head and said that as long as some magic remained in Orthys, the door would stay open. "It needs very little magic to be activated so it's not a gas guzzler (so to speak) for the magic power of the mountain. In fact, it requires almost no magic save its creation and purpose (which is very minimal if you're a god)," he added.

"Do you know if it's still safe to use it to get to the upper levels?" I asked. "Yes it should be, especially if the Titans have been through it lately," he answered. "What does it do if they go through it, does it keep it safe for our use?" I inquired. "It's not that it's unsafe unless they pass through, it's that if the levels of magic power it could essentially vaporize us while we're in the middle of it; even gods are affected by this," he explained.

It was nice that he explained that for me because afterwards, he told me to hold my shield out in front of me and have my spear ready to attack anything. After a while, he told me that the coast was clear and I could ease it up a little bit. "Let's go through the portal, I think we can find Prometheus and Ouranos if we go beyond the door. We may also be able to find Atlas if we're lucky," he said.

"How would it be lucky if we found Atlas alongside his brother and Ouranos?" I asked. "Let's put it this way: you fought Atlas, now he'll want to get even with you and you can draw him away if not kill him. If you defeat him, there will be quite some glory in it for you," Gabriel answered. "I should presume that it would be more glory than Hercules or Perseus?" I asked. "Anytime you defeat or kill a god, minor or major, it's more glory than just some monster like Medusa or the Minotaur," he answered.

"So let's see Percy has defeated both Ares and Epimetheus so he has quite the glory. And you've killed how many gods and/or goddesses now?" I inquired. "Excluding that time when we dueled with Oceanus and the times I dueled with Prometheus, I have defeated at least four gods. I defeated Perses, Hyperion, Nyx, and Tethys in individual duels and out of the four I have killed two: Hyperion and Tethys," he explained.

"Let me guess, you were doing it in the name of the gods," I said. "No, Hyperion was a case where I was obeying orders and Tethys was killed because of self-defense," he replied. "Self-defense, was this earlier in your career with the gods?" I asked. "Yeah, I was in the early months of my service to Helios when she attacked me," he answered.

"Did Helios and his sisters have a problem with you killing their father when Hera ordered you to?" I asked, curious about his service. "Yes and no; yes they wanted their father punished even if it came down to me doing it, no they didn't want him dead since he was their father after all," he told me. He added that though that was the case, they stood down when Hera insisted that it had to be done. "Besides, I hated Hyperion anyway for making Eos cry on that night when I had to tell her he sided with my father," Gabriel said humorously.

We walked into the portal and were instantly transported to the upper levels where we knew evil awaited us on every turn. On the other side of the portal, we saw a fork in the hall that led two ways. According to Gabriel, the left was the one he had been on when he escaped from the dungeons. "Because that one leads to the dungeons, the one on the right must lead to the Throne room and that's where we'll hope to find Ouranos and Prometheus," he said.

But something compelled me to head for the dungeons, a tiny but traceable reading of a demigod aura. "Gabriel, I sense something down in the dungeons that could be a surviving prisoner. May I go and investigate while you go on ahead and fight Ouranos?" I asked. He nodded and told me that it probably would be best if I did that since any chance of recruits was a good one.

"Plus there may be those who failed to escape last time I was here and were put back in the dungeons under more extreme circumstances," he told me before saying goodbye. I went down the hallway to the prison but before he was out of sight, Gabriel told me to be careful. "If Atlas is down there, only a clever trick will save you from him as it did Hercules and Percy," he warned. "I understand and tell me if an trick based on environment helps," I said.

"It does so when and if you face him, try to use the environment to trick him. That is your best chance if you are to defeat him," Gabe replied. I thanked him for the advice then headed down the hall for the dungeons in the hope of confirming whether or not demigods were there. It was a long walk but when I arrived, I wish I didn't have to see some of the things that I had to see.

People who had long since died were still chained to the walls of their cells and the cell doors would often be partially destroyed in some manner of explosive means. By that I mean that at one gate, all but some of the bottom and gear to open and close the door remained intact. Some of the demigods that were dead had blade wounds where either the Titans or whoever destroyed this place might have attacked. I even saw one woman with a gouged-out eye as well as a slash across her chest and abdomen while her hands were firmly wrapped around two of the bars of her cell.

Blood stains ran across the floor and walls as though the Titans had used blood to scrub their dungeons. Flies swarmed around many of the dead demigods some of which, I dared not touch with my hands in case they were diseased in a contagious sense. But in the distance I heard a whisper: "Help… us". It repeated often enough to where I could follow it to its source, which was a demigod with two broken legs that were covered in blood and ripped trousers that exposed the infected wounds on his legs.

He also had three broken fingers on his right hand and a dislocated shoulder on that same arm. His left hand was slashed across the back of it from the index knuckle to the left side of his wrist. But most disgusting of all was that he had burnt patches of skin where once hair had been on his head, burns that extended all the way to one ear and malformed it. The hair that remained was sticky, blood-covered, and lice-filled thanks to probably no baths for a long time.

A bruise that never healed had swollen his left temple to the point of taken the vision out of his eye on that side. When he breathed, he wheezed slightly and asked if I was really here or if I was just a hallucination. "I'm really here and I'm here to get you and any other survivors out," I told him. Then I asked him what his name was and at first, I thought he was going to die trying to answer.

But fortunately, he managed to tell me that his name was Conan and he was a son of Saturn. "Saturn, how come I have never heard of him?" I asked. "If you know Gabriel Johnson, it's his father's Roman form," Conan answered. One, I didn't know Kronos had a Roman form and two, I was surprised to hear that this guy was related to Gabriel. "We're half-brothers, Gabriel and myself plus almost thirty thousand other children of Saturn," Conan added.

"Saturn had thirty thousand kids? How come we've never heard of this?" I inquired. "For one, not all of the children of Saturn are his by blood but by rite of passage. The ones with an actual connection to Saturn are in high power where we live whereas people like myself who tagged along cover the bulk of our people," he explained between breaths. "And precisely where do you and your people live if it's safe to ask?" I asked him.

"Located deep in the Appalachian mountains, in a place called Saturn's Land," Conan answered. "I have never heard of it," I said to him. "Neither god nor demigod has except for the children of Saturn and Gabriel. Long ago in Roman legend, my adoptive father Saturn had once been accepted as one of the Olympian gods of agriculture after his defeat at the hands of Jupiter. Contentedly, Saturn served alongside his daughter Ceres as a fellow god of agriculture.

"But one day, Juno the queen of the Roman gods deemed Saturn a threat to the integrity of Olympus. She betrayed him and cast him out of Olympus in spite of Jupiter's protest afterwards. Betrayed and exiled, Saturn vowed vengeance on the Olympians and saw to it that his children as well as anyone who went with them were stationed in the Appalachians in Saturn's Land until the time was right. But one day, one of his children realized that Jupiter could not be defeated and decided to betray his father as well," Conan explained.

"So what did he do?" I asked. "With the aid of three sisters and two brothers, he cut Saturn's soul out of his body and imprisoned it in a medal statue designed in his image. As long as Saturn's soul and body are not rejoined, Saturn himself will never have his powers even if he still has his immortality," Conan answered. I nodded then I asked him if there were any other survivors besides himself in this chaotic hellhole.

He pointed to some of the people behind him and I thanked him. But before I could act, I heard a voice I knew all too well. "Even if they have survived this long, I doubt they will be alive much longer," Atlas said from behind me. I turned and saw the brute standing on top of a tall staircase in the same fashion that Darth Vader did in Star Wars.

He even had a cape and helmet to match but his face was clear for me to see. "Last time I saw you, you were acting on your cowardly brothers behalf in preventing us from stopping Ouranos' resurrection," I taunted. "And last time I saw you, you were cowering under your shield for protection against my broadsword," Atlas replied, also trying to taunt me. "Come down here and we can settle this once and for all," I told him.

To my surprise and to my eternal delight he obeyed and jumped down to face me. Now I remember Gabe telling me to think of a trick that required environment in order to save my skin when battling against Atlas so I looked around quickly. In the distance, I saw a fiery light that looked like a furnace and I knew I had my charm if I could get to it. By this time, Atlas had unsheathed his broadsword and was moving so fast that I barely had time to raise my shield as his sword came down on my head.

In response, I jabbed at him with my spear repeatedly and at different angles. Unfortunately, all of my attempts were deflected by him and I was once again on the defense. But instead of being helpless, although I had to deceive him into thinking I was, I turned myself so that my back was facing the door to the furnace. He kept on battering me in the hopes of a victory point while I turned myself in proportion to the furnace and was even pushed a little closer by Atlas' attack.

I jabbed again to remind him that I was very capable of fighting and even scored a graze across his shin with the front edge. As was part of my plan, it angered him and he hit my shield harder than he had before and was pushing me closer to the furnace. It was still another two meters away from me so I had to keep up a strong defense until I could reach it with occasion offense. When I was closer enough to the furnace door, I used the butt of my spear to press the button that would open the door then continued from there.

Now we were in the furnace for the final stages of my plan, which would be slightly postponed by Atlas' next move but not altered. He literally tore the shield Aegis off me and threw it into the fires below the rail we were on. Now I knew I had to go on a full offensive if I were to survive without my plan backfiring on me. I jabbed and thrust at Atlas and even went to the trouble of using my spear in the same manner as a sword and slashing at him.

But he had me beaten down at one point when I had to use the rod of my spear to defend myself and it bent toward me. "It's always a pleasure to take a brave warrior's life," Atlas said, intentionally mocking me. Not only that but it seemed like he was savoring a kill he thought was to come. I guessed it was due to the fact that since the time he killed his daughter Zoë Nightshade, my predecessor in my position, when she stood in Artemis' defense.

Then I noticed that there was an opening behind him that would lead to a fiery death for mortal and god alike if either one was to be thrown in. So I whirled around and used my spear as balance. I gave Atlas a good kick in the chest and face, sending him flying over the rail and to his death in the furnace below. He survived the fall but burned to death in the furnace's fire below and he shouted to me calling me a fool.

"What's so foolish about the move I just pulled off?" I asked him. "This furnace is the heart of all Mount Orthys, my power is enough to destroy it. Once the heart of Orthys is destroyed, this entire realm will crumble down to oblivion in fifty-four minutes," he answered. "Well then, I take you and this realm today as additions to my victory as a heroine," I said.

Then that reminded me to go back and check on the prisoners I had left behind. My greatest hope was that at least Conan was still alive so I could rescue him and maybe a couple others. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me back to the dungeons and out of the furnace to find only disappointment. When I returned, Conan was on his last stretch of life and everyone else was dead. He handed me a note just before he passed on and told me to give to Gabriel and reluctantly, I agreed to hand the note over to him.


	11. Gabriel: Fighting Ouranos and Prometheus

Gabriel: The confrontation with Ouranos and Prometheus along with aftermath

At long last, I had arrived at one of the biggest moments of my entire career. Today, I would choose between taking my revenge and forgetting about the Sky Sword or attacking Ouranos and stealing it from him. I unsheathed both of my swords and thought about the difficult choice before I went into the Throne room where my father once ruled supreme. _All right Gabe, today is not the day for revenge; you must get the Sky Sword at all costs and if you kill Prometheus along the way, that's fine _I told myself.

Then I stepped into the Throne room for the first time since I met my father for the first time. "Welcome to your destruction Gabriel Johnson, so sad that you came alone though," Prometheus said. "I only need myself for this mission, you know that to be true Titan!" I hissed. "Oh so I suppose there was no need to bring in Thalia Grace, Perseus Jackson, and Nico di Angelo along?" he asked.

"That's none of your concern Prometheus, now are we going to get this show on the road or are we just going to stand and talk?" I asked. "I was about to ask that same thing of the two of you myself," Ouranos answered. Sure enough, the Sky Sword was in his right hand and his shield was on his left so he was ready for battle. I prepared myself with the two swords I had in my hands and had one pointed at each of them since I did not know who was going to attack first.

To my surprise, both of them moved to attack at the same time but I had knew that this was not something to panic about. I simply surged enough power in to the sword on my left hand to create a bomb powerful enough to destroy any shield simply by touching it. Yes I would be sacrificing one of my swords but it was better than fighting both of them while Ouranos had that shield plus it would temporarily catch him off guard. When my sword was ready for its final blow, I threw it with all my might (I'm right-handed when I throw) and I was slightly surprised to see I didn't miss.

While the explosion was going and the light of it was distracting Ouranos, I put up a defense against Prometheus and briefly twirled blades against him. We had a moment where our blades crossed but that was when the explosion ended and Ouranos was regaining awareness of his surroundings. I pushed Prometheus off me and deflected a blow from Ouranos' blade and was locked for several seconds in a hold neither of us wanted to let go of. But when I saw Prometheus coming at me again, I knew I had only two options at that precise time.

The first option was to get out of the hold, kick Ouranos down and fight with Prometheus for a bit (again). But the second option sounded even better to me and would go along with the plan better. The second option was that I would quickly muster up enough power to push Prometheus through the wall behind him and out Orthys. I went with the second option and it worked brilliantly and almost instantaneously.

Since Prometheus was caught off guard by it, he was sent flying through the wall and down to the base of the mountain. Now, even if he temporarily transformed into a bird, he would never reach us in time to save Ouranos if I was quick. I broke the lock and resumed slashing, twirling, spinning, and hacking with my remaining sword at Ouranos who deflected them repetitively with the Sky Sword. But as annoying as it was, I was caught and yet another lock of our blades but thankfully this was not one with a weird angle like some of the previous ones had been.

During this one, I looked into the intense eyes of the elder sky god who had preceded both my brother Zeus and my father Kronos as ruler of the Heavens. I had heard that a weakness of most primordial gods (like the Titans) was that if you made them angry, they would perform sloppily. With that in mind, I decided to mock Ouranos with some comments that I know would have pissed off Zeus with ease. "Now I see how you could have the cold heart to cast your own children into Tartarus," I said.

"Oh yes, and how was that?" he asked. "Well let me put it this way, you were born an incompetent idiot that was unfit to rule the universe. Oh and your son cut off your balls so now, you don't even have a sex-life," I answered. Ouranos took the bait and pushed me off him before gathering enough power borrowed from Light to use it against me.

"For that insolent remark, you will pay dearly! Feel the power of a star's core!" he shouted. I shielded my eyes just before he turned on the incredibly bright light that was reminiscent of the sun. "Now, burn mortal as so many others before you have burned under the might of this star's power," he ordered. My armor protected me from the star's power but I knew that if I didn't reach Ouranos soon, the protection would not last and my armor would fail me.

That's when it occurred to me that he had thrown the Sky Sword into the air as if priding himself on destroying me with this attack. It was almost working but I had an idea that would work if I didn't miss the sky god and boy was this risky. I threw my remaining sword in front of me, where I remembered Ouranos last being before he unleashed the attack because I knew that usually a powerful attack requires you to stand where you are no matter what until the attack is over. Carefully and strategically, I painted a mental picture of Ouranos in my mind and pictured where his heart was then aimed precisely where I thought it would be.

Being careful to keep my eyes shielded from the light, I hurled my sword with the strength remaining in my right arm. To be the most precise, I even threw it as though I had had a javelin in my possession and waited for the light to go out from the impact of the blow. I knew the blow succeeded when the light vanished just barely more than a few seconds later and I heard a loud cry from Ouranos. When I lifted my arm down, the sword had gone almost all the way through my enemy with only the hilt sticking out and a portion of the tip sticking out of the back.

Then, knowing that now Zeus would inherit all the powers of the sky, so I just sat back and watch as a single blue beam pierced the sky. It drained Ouranos of both his power and his life in a single, rapid shoot to the night sky where it belonged. In the process, my last sword was destroyed but it was great to know that Ouranos was dead when his body burst into flame as a signal of his death. At that same time, I saw the Sky Sword drop and pierce the cement deep enough to stand firmly upright.

Seeing that Prometheus had not yet arrived and probably would not, I savored the sensation of obtaining the Sky Sword. Yes, I had sensed the destruction of Orthys' core but even with that there was no need to rush just yet. Slowly, I extended my arm and was a far enough distance to where only my hand could reach the hilt. Finally, I grab it and pull it from the marble floor below my feet and feeling the power surge into my veins.

I proudly held it with the sharp tip facing the domain from whence the weapon came. The thunder growled as though Zeus had noticed that I had obtained the Sky Sword and I knew I would have the power to destroy Prometheus once and for all. "Thank you brother for entrusting me with the only power to even closely rival your lightning bolt," I said, knowing better than to take full credit for the victory even when I had every right to. Smiling, I decided to test its power against the forces protecting Mount Orthys and that was just assuming they would oppose my escape.

I walked out of the Black Throne room but not before I took one last look around at the place that my father had once ruled. Then I said aloud to no one else: "I can't focus on you forever father, I have already surpassed you." After that I turned my back on the Black Throne completely and even went as far as to use the Sky Sword to seal the entrance. _This thing doesn't kid around when in use _I thought to myself with a smile.

Having already mastered the abilities required for a two-handed sword, I let the Persian hordes pour on me before annihilating them all. It was so easy destroying the legions of Persian soldiers that it was barely even fun to see them be cast back into the Underworld just because I tested the Sky Sword's power on them. I fought and slashed my way through the hall leading back to where I separated from Thalia with ease and was surprised to find her close behind me. After finishing off the remainder of our current enemy, I asked her if she found any survivors in the dungeons.

"There was one who was alive long enough to tell me about a place called Saturn's Land. He said his name was Conan and handed me this sword just before he died," she said as she lifted a sword I recognized almost too well. "That's the Sword of Saturn, it's said that as long as a child of Saturn holds it Saturn's Land will never die," I said aloud. "So it exists then?" Thalia asked and I answered by nodding before asking her to give the sword to me.

She must have learned that Saturn was the Roman form for Kronos because she was quick to hand it to me. "So are all of the people of Saturn's Land your siblings?" she asked. "Not by blood no but I am still related through an oath of kinship. Did Conan tell you how Saturn's Land started before he died?" I replied.

"Yes but something about it doesn't make sense. We serve the Greek gods and are children of them yet here is this Roman god with children of his own. Could that mean there are more Roman gods out there and if so, how is that possible?" she asked. "Put Annabeth on the investigation with her brother Malcolm, they have a better chance of figuring it out than you do but I can tell you that the gods of all cultures exist from China to Egypt," I answered and that was true.

But that would have to cast aside for another time when we aren't on the run from a collapsing palace. "Thalia, let's find Percy and get the hell out of here before this place collapses. If the stairs are destroyed, I'll use my telekinetic abilities to steady your wind powers while we make the descent. Once we've met up with Percy, we have to get as far away as we can from the mountain before Orthys collapses completely," I told her.

She agreed and we ran for the portal just before it faded away completely. On the other side, we didn't even see any trace of the portal but rather we saw a blank wall like the rest of the room we had started at. "Now let's find Percy and get out of this place quickly," I said. But Percy found us and we all had to descend down the stairs as they started to crack and crumble beneath our very feet as we ran.

"The stairs are leveled, we're going to have to make quite the feat to get out of here," he said. "Thalia, manipulate the winds as best you can and I'll do what I can to steady the three of us," I said. We gathered around Thalia and wrapped our arms around each other so that we didn't lose our grip once we were descending down the mountain. "Take us to the lake by the mountain, I can carry us quite a distance away from this place if you do," Percy said.

I nodded agreement and told him to guide Thalia towards the lake so that it could be done. He gave directions after Thalia began bending the winds to her will and I stabilized her power with my telekinesis. "Turn left and head diagonally downwards then I'll tell you when to stop," he said. I held onto both of them as we made the plunge, my fingers barely even reaching each other as we flew down to the lake together.

I kept us on a straight path (just barely) and Thalia brought us to the lake so fast that Percy barely even had any time to tell her to stop. When she did stop, we were just above the surface of the lake and Percy brought up the levels of it enough for us to safely stand up on it. "Percy, I'm gonna try and buy you some time if necessary so just concentrate on raising the waters enough to launch us out of here," I told him. Percy nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate on commanding the water to carry us away from the base of Orthys.

Oddly enough, the Persians kept on fighting the Greek and I only had to kill those few who wandered to close to the lake for comfort. The sad thing was that I was sacrificing all of these great soldiers to destroy Mount Orthys and obtain the Sky Sword. But then I took solace in the fact that they were already dead and would have willingly given up their lives a second time to destroy the enemy once again. "Percy you ready with your little water-launcher idea?" I asked and he nodded.

After that I told him to do it and we were blasted off faster than any gun could ever have launched us. We shot clear over the walls of Orthys, far past our camp, and landed near the border between San Francisco and Nevada. Thankfully, we were not wet but now we had another problem on our hands: contacting Chiron and telling him the mission was a success. "Hey Percy, you got anymore of that water on you because we need to get an Iris-message to Chiron?" Thalia asked.

"No but there's a shop right across the street where we can possibly get water guns at," Percy answered. Sure enough, he was right about that and I decided to go in and see if I could buy a water gun for us. "Thalia , hold camp here and Percy, see if you can find some water to fill the gun up with water if it's necessary and bring the water back in this," I told them, handing Percy my cape. I handed the Sky Sword to Thalia and held onto the Sword of Saturn while I headed for the store to see where their best price on water guns were.

I returned with a really good one shortly thereafter and made sure to have a drachma for Thalia to use in giving the message while I fired the gun. Percy returned with the water and we were fortunate enough to tell Chiron himself that we had a successful mission. "Chiron, this is Thalia calling on the Iris service and I would like to report a successful mission. I repeat, we have successfully destroyed Ouranos and stolen the Sky Sword from him and we have also obtained this weapon called the Sword of Saturn according to Gabriel," she said.

"Congratulations you three, we have obtained Nico and have sent a chariot to pick you up. State your location and it will arrive quickly," Chiron said. We did and a chariot came to pick us up in a matter of minutes; I could hardly wait to get back to Camp.


	12. Annabeth: The Sky Sword & aftermath

Annabeth: The Sky Sword and what happened next

I had gathered the camp for a celebration in the name of the team for successfully grabbing the sword and bringing it back to camp while killing Ouranos and destroying Orthys. Fortunately, I was able to keep the crowd from being so wild that even Gabriel would be crushed under their weight. Chiron was there with me and we were both the first to greet the team as they came back on a chariot normally used by Iris and was being driven by Butch. They arrived in a matter of minutes and the crowd screamed all at once with praise and reverence for their new leaders.

"Well done, you four! Together, you have destroyed Ouranos, stolen the Sky Sword, and brought it back to Camp safely along with another weapon that we will take now for investigation," Chiron said. "Actually Chiron, I suggest you let me keep it as I already know who it belongs to," Gabriel replied. Though a bit surprised, Chiron agreed but gave him a surprise of his own by giving him his rank as Chiron's equal for the duration of the war effort.

"Thank you Chiron but may we know where Percy, Nico, and Thalia rank?" Gabriel asked. "They are Annabeth's equals, all four of them answer only to you and I," Chiron answered. "Let me guess, you gave me the rank because I have killed immortals before, including Ouranos and Hyperion," Gabriel said. Chiron nodded and asked if he was the one who killed Atlas at Mount Orthys.

"Actually, that was my doing and his death destroyed the mountain's core. Because of me, Mount Orthys was destroyed but it's because of Gabriel that Ouranos is dead and we're in possession of the Sky Sword," Thalia answered. "I forsook my own revenge against Prometheus since he was also there in exchange for obtaining the Sky Sword," Gabriel added. "You mean to tell me you fought two gods simultaneously but killed only one?" I asked.

"Yeah and Percy also had a victory against one of the Titans too. He defeated Prometheus' brother Epimetheus in single combat," Thalia answered. Percy blushed when I looked at him for confirmation of this victory and I knew that they were telling the truth. "We will have a firework show in their honor tonight, bring a date with you and a picnic blanket as it's going to be a long show," Chiron said.

Drew Beauregard showed up at that point and asked Gabriel if he would like to be her date to the picnic. Although he had previously accepted her advances, he ignored her as he asked Thalia to join him. "I'm a lieutenant of Artemis, you know that," she said. "Just because I'm asking you to join me doesn't mean I wanna bang you; I mean you did kill Atlas, didn't you?" he replied.

She admitted that was true and said she would be glad to share Gabriel's picnic basket with him. "Wait, what about me?" Drew asked. "What about you, just because I had sex with you doesn't mean I love you. I was in a fit of madness given to me as a curse from the gods, now that the curse is over I can't believe you were one of my victims," Gabriel answered.

Drew ran away at that point but not before she vowed revenge on him. "Yeah yeah, I've killed immortal gods. What could _you _possibly have that I should be afraid of?" Gabe replied before forgetting about her entirely. "Tonight when the show begins at 7:00 then?" Thalia asked and he nodded.

Percy stepped up to me and asked me if I would like to go to the firework show with him. "Do you really have to ask, Seaweed Brain?" I asked him. "I don't know, do I Wise Girl?" he answered with a smile. We both walked away from that with a promise that we would be going to the firework show together.

Curious to see the Sky Sword for myself, I went to Gabriel and asked him to show it to me. When he did, I was amazed by the design of it and the fact that it was a two-handed sword rather than anything Grecian. "If you're amazed by this, take a look at the Sword of Saturn," Gabriel said before showing me the sword Thalia had taken from Orthys. "The man she took from kept it until the very moment he died, which was when he gave it to Thalia," he added.

"Who is Saturn? I have never heard of him in any of the Greek legends about the gods?" I asked. "He used to be the Roman ego of my father Kronos before he manifested into his own deity and turned his back on the Greek entity. Saturn's children are the leaders of a town they named after their father: Saturn's Land and it's located in the Appalachian mountains. A drive would be one or two days from here but by Pegasus, you reach it in a few hours," he answered.

"Could we Greek demigods see it if we wanted to?" I asked. "Depends on whether or not you found it by chance. I found it by chance, revealed my heritage when I was brought there, and now I have permission to go back there when I wish. You would be allowed in if you accompanied me but besides that you would have to find it by chance the way I did," he explained.

I nodded and thanked him for explaining the whole reason for the sword. "See you at the show tonight?" he asked. "Yeah, me and Percy will even park our blanket next to yours if you want," I answered. "Sounds great, I'll see you there then," he said and I nodded in agreement.

The only thing I felt ashamed of was the fact that Nico was not going to be conscious in time for celebration but not to worry. We'd most likely be having a celebration when he revives even if it doesn't involve fireworks like this one will. I tried to think only of the good time I would be having at the celebration but one thought never escaped my mind. Would Camp have fallen period if Gabriel had been on the side of the Titans from the start?  
>What if Kronos had somehow survived through Gabriel but was manifesting into a whole new being? Could Prometheus know how to use his revenge against us in the future? Besides those questions, I readied my stuff for the picnic tonight and even made sure to look good for Percy when he came to pick me up as was the plan for tonight. I wasn't sure what to braid my hair with so I just straightened it and got on a nice shirt to go with my jeans.<p>

Then Percy came for me an hour or so later and we walked to the Long Island Sound for the firework display. Percy and I set the blanket next to Gabriel's, which was already being sat on by Gabriel and Thalia, after we arrived to the Sound. After that Percy suggested that we lie down and make sure we were comfortable before the show began. "Like I need to be told _that _Seaweed Brain," I retorted with a giggle.

He lied down on his back while I lied my head down on his chest, listening to his heart beat as the show began. Briefly, I turned to see Gabriel and Thalia sitting up and believe me I was glad they hadn't even touched each other. Not just because Thalia was bound to her service to Artemis but because even if she wasn't, I don't think Gabriel and Thalia would have been in love. Just then, the Hunters of Artemis came from behind them and told Thalia that Artemis had ordered Thalia to separate from Gabriel.

"I am the lieutenant and I order_ you _to let me stay with who I choose!" Thalia replied. "Go with them Thalia, it will help them recover their pride faster if you are not sitting here with me," Gabriel calmly told her. "Oh it's not our pride that's the issue, it's Artemis' rule of chastity that has us on these orders," Phoebe snapped. "Okay it's both but so what?" Gabe asked.

"If we were not in Camp Half-Blood, I'd make you eat those words for your last meal," Phoebe hissed. "Yeah right, you couldn't kill me last time so what difference does it make now? Besides, if you did kill me you would be the offender of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera. Through them, you would also offend the entirety of Olympus besides your mistress so I would not touch me if I were you," Gabe countered.

Phoebe marched away with Thalia but not before the latter woman apologized for what happened. "It's okay, I had a backup plan in the even this happened. All I have to do is flip this drachma and ask her to join me if I wish to not be alone," he said. She smiled and rhetorically asked how she knew he had something like that to say.

"I'm a son of Kronos, I always have something smart to say to everybody," he sarcastically replied. "That's more often than a child of Athena, are you sure about that?" I asked. He laughed and answered that he was not sure about that and both Percy and I cracked up at that. "So who's your backup plan if Thalia was to be taken by the Hunter of Artemis?" I inquired, curious.

"Let me put it this way: she's the dawn," he answered. "Eos? She would go on a date with you to a firework show? How do you know there's not a better one on Olympus right now?" I teased.

We laughed at that joke but soon after, Eos appeared behind him, covered his eyes, and told him to guess who. "Eos, goddess of the dawn and the woman I love in spite of my fits of madness where I committed unreasonable acts of infidelity," he answered. "Long time no see, my love. How are you tonight?" Eos asked.

"Well, I've killed Ouranos, forsook my own revenge to do it, obtained the Sword of Saturn from Conan through Thalia, and destroyed Mount Orthys with the help of my friends but besides that I'm perfect. What about you dear Eos, how are you doing?" Gabe replied. "Oh, let's just say I'm in the mood for some fireworks and lying down on the grass with my love, Gabriel Johnson," Eos said. He kissed her and made some space for her to lie down with him as the fireworks ignited and exploded in the sky to celebrate Gabriel's victory.

It was a spectacle unlike even the July fireworks or any other celebration that I've been around for. As I lied on Percy's chest and Eos lied on Gabriel's we watched as the spectacle of the century played out its part. Almost all the campers even stayed after the fireworks ended and slept right there on Long Island Sound. It was a magical night with an equally magical ending that I don't think any camper would be forgetting anytime soon.

Six days later…

Percy, Thalia, and I were gathered in a meeting that also included Gabriel and Chiron. This meeting was about drawing up battle plans in case Prometheus decided to continue with his assault on Camp Half-Blood without Ouranos to help. "If Prometheus wants to guarantee victory, he'd come at night since he would then be under the protection of Nyx but our camp is designed so that he would have to narrow down his numbers a bit. He knows the risk if we have him do that and will most likely see if he can attack from a distance first," Gabriel said.

"Then wouldn't it be wise to set up our cannons so that he would have no choice but to risk narrowing down his army in order to really do damage?" Thalia asked. "How the hell can we do that? Fly the cannons right behind him and force his armies in by blasting away soldiers at the rear?" Gabriel answered.

"He's right and besides, if we do that then we risk compromising what our plan is to him. But my question is this: if he can see the future, won't he already know what our plan is?" I asked. "That's a good question Annabeth and I have an answer: he prides himself on trying to do what he can without his ability to see the future," Chiron said. We all nodded in agreement on that and continued with the plan from there.

"Let's see what we can do to force him in our domain _before _we resort to the cannons. They're some of our most powerful weapons and I'd hate to lose them before we actually need them," Gabriel said and we agreed. "What about the lake that will surely be at their flank when they arrive? Perhaps I can use my connection to my father's realm to have that lake flood them in," Percy suggested.

"The distance of the lake from the camp plus its quantity would surely take a toll on you. Are you sure you'd be up to Percy?" I asked. "I'll see what I can do if I'm given a chance to use my abilities to force him in," Percy answered. "Well Percy is right in his implication of one thing: we're all taking risks when he attacks camp, even my brother Chiron and I," Gabe agreed. "Then perhaps our concluded strategy shall be to have Percy use his connection to his father's realm to force the Titan forces in the narrow terrain leading to our camp then slaughter them at the walls?" Chiron asked.

"It's a crude strategy, but it's our most effective one if we add the way we'll arrange our soldiers. Percy and I have decided that perhaps it would be best to have the minor cabins fight first so that they have a chance to prove themselves worthy of us while simultaneously holding down the fortress," I answered. "If I may say so, there may be a better and less risky way of drawing them into our trap. It will be more long term but we may have a long time before Prometheus attacks the Camp," Gabriel said.

"What is it that you would have us do, Gabe?" Thalia asked. "Perhaps send in a spy, preferably a child of Hermes considering that their natural ability to deceive can even fool the gods, to make Prometheus bold and confident. If there's anything I know from my days slaying immortals it's that they _crave _only hearing the good things about themselves. Perhaps we can deceive him into thinking he can destroy us easily, regardless of what his premonitions tell him or better yet, it could make his premonitions simple enough for that spy to easily manipulate them for our purposes," Gabriel explained.

"Seems safe enough and we have only to lose that person who would volunteer to venture into his camp. As for whether or not we can be safe, let's hope the volunteer buys us time to be ready for war," I said. "Then is it agreed that we find one amongst us who is experienced enough and brave enough to infiltrate enemy lines and act as a spy for us while also poisoning Prometheus' mind in the sense that his own power turns against him?" Percy asked. "All who are in favor say 'aye'," Thalia agreed.

Chiron, Thalia, Percy, Gabriel, and I all said aye and settled for that. We walked out of the Big House at that point but instead of the usual calm, we walked into a frozen crowd that stood staring in one direction. Along with the crowd, we turned our gaze to that direction and saw a woman coming up the hill carrying a man by the arm across her shoulders. Even from here, I could make out that his arm was swollen purple just above the elbow and could make out that she was saying that she was in search of Gabriel.

Gabriel rushed to them as if he knew them (I later realized he did) and asked what happened. "He's been bitten by a snake, he needs medical help quickly!" she said. "Yes and no ordinary snake: it's the bite of an Egyptian Asp. Somebody get me a stretcher to take him to the Asclepius cabin fast," Gabriel ordered.

Two Apollo kids came back with a stretcher and with the woman's help, Gabriel parked the dying man on the stretcher before he was taken to the Asclepius cabin. I ran to see if the Asclepius kids could pull off their first real operation or if we would need the infirmary medics for that. "I don't know how Brian lasted this long but I highly recommend amputating his arm in order to save his life," Gabriel said. "Well the venom is coursing up his blood stream at a level of two inches per four minutes and it's already past his elbow," one Asclepius kid (Emilio) agreed.

"My guess is he used his power to contain the venom to his arm so if we do sever it, we may be able to separate the coagulated blood from his healthy blood," Dr. Fernando added. "Do it, whatever it takes to save his life, do it!" Gabriel said. "We have the tools for amputation, problem is we've never done it before and we may possibly kill him," Emilio said. Gabriel shook his head and said that was not true so Emilio proceeded to strap the boy called Brian down while he went to get the anesthetic to knock him out while they amputated him.

A nurse named Betty came with the anesthetic injector and on Emilio's signal, injected it through Brian's neck and knocked him out instantly. Fernando grabbed the amputating blade at that point and began to surgically slice into Brian's arm, which I could not watch. Emilio got out another blade that he made red-hot under a fire while Fernando continued the operation. When I turned back to see the operation, Emilio was just beginning the cauterization of the stump and I wish I had not turned to see that.

"Gabriel, why did you let them do that to your friend?" I asked. "Because it was the only way to save him. Besides as much as I hate these sorts of operations even I am willing to consent to them. By the way, he's not my friend, he's my brother just as Allie here is my sister by the god Saturn," Gabriel answered.

The girl called Allie was panicking in the background but Gabriel calmed her down. "Listen to me, tell me what happened and tell me how he got bitten by an Egyptian Asp," Gabriel told her. At first, she spent some time calming down then proceeded to tell him something I would never forget. "Saturn's Land, Gabriel; Saturn's Land has been destroyed," she said.

"Destroyed? How in the name of all the Olympians is that possible?" Gabriel asked. "Prometheus sent his brother Epimetheus and their armies under the cover of night and burned Saturn's Land to the ground. They slaughtered men, women, and children alike and only a couple hundred are alive including me and Brian," Allie answered. Gabriel was silent for a moment then he told us that we would have to go to Saturn's Land.

"This is our chance to make them suffer before us and this is our chance to kick some ass," Gabriel said. "Please, let us stay here for a while before you go back there?" Allie asked. Gabriel nodded and said that he would not make a move towards Saturn's Land until Brian was fit for travel. Then Brian awoke and whispered, "Gabriel, you son of a bitch, I'm… glad… we found you; help us now… as you helped as before… and I will consider us… even." We had no words for that and knew we had some questions for Gabriel, which he said he would answer with Brian's help at a later date.

To Be Continued…


End file.
